Grand Budapest Hotel-Film Review

Grand Budapest Hotel

Gustave "Attends" to Madame D.

Wes Anderson’s latest cinematic release, The Grand Budapest Hotel can be described as stylish, charming, humorous, touching and in general entertaining. Imagine the beautiful pastel produced colours of the mise en scene in the Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou but remove the somewhat irritating and seemingly intentionally weird quirks that damaged the film. Grand Budapest simply looks beautiful and unlike Anderson’s 2004 instalment Life Aquatic, has a well-executed narrative that both made me laugh and was emotionally compelling. Fronted by an excellent performance by Ralph Fiennes and a wonderful ensemble cast,  with such precise choreographed comedic timing Grand Budapest really is a must see.

The set has clearly been constructed in painstaking detail and brings to mind a beautifully crafted doll’s house with its retrofitted design. With the matte painted backdrops and symmetrical shots the film is overwhelmingly pleasant to look at. You can’t help but imagine Anderson lifting the scenes of the film from a series of detailed sketches. You merely have to observe the production credits of Grand Budapest to realise that Anderson has been relentless in his construction of the film; Director: Wes Anderson, Screen Play: Wes Anderson, Story: Wes Anderson and Producer: Wes Anderson. Anderson’s devotion to the piece shows.

Like almost all Anderson productions the narrative is “distinctive” to say the least. The story begins with a girl visiting the grave of an Author. She reads his memoirs and we then cut to the Author describing his trip the eponymous Hotel. And so we, the spectator, are transported to the fictional Republic of Zubrowka. As the author meets the hotel’s mysterious elderly owner Zero Moustafa we are then Zero’s account of how he came to own the establishment and of his mentor the legendary Gustave H, the Grand Budapest's devoted concierge. When he is not addressing the needs of the hotel's wealthy clientele or managing its staff, Gustave attends to a series of aging, blonde women who enjoy his "exceptional service". All, however, is not well; Zubrowka is on the verge of war. Though the story and characterisation as well as the marvellous visual style was, in my opinion, excellent one of the film’s real strengths was Anderson’s clever use of costume and mise en scene.

Gustave and Zero stand outside the legendary Hotel.

Whilst some directors such as Tarantino, though a marvellous director, sometimes have such a disregard for history that it can be damaging to the film’s point, Wes Anderson thankfully avoids this trap.  Anderson’s use of a fictitious account of history serves not to confuse the narrative but instead allows the director to use iconographies that can tell the audience all that they need to know whilst never explicitly stating anything.  Watch out for the subtle change in costume between the Pickelhaube (Imperialist German helmet) style of helmet, worn by Edward Norton, to the attire that is clearly reminiscent of the uniform worn by the SS during the train carriage scenes. It’ll reminds the you that the film is set against the backdrop of a war torn Europe but is really about the end of an era of decadence and the birth of a world that is, quite literally, muted in colour. The film however does not seem to make a political statement; these backdrops are far more tonal than anything else. The execution of these elements is near flawless.

Overall, this is a film of many strengths and though it inevitably has its weak points, I find I am unable to take of my rose tinted glasses and will certainly be returning to this particular film.