The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Grand Budapest Hotel is considered by many to be Wes Anderson’s Magnum Opus. This comedy-drama period piece, taking inspiration from the writings of Stefan Zweig, boasts a large ensemble cast led by the always great Ralph Fiennes, whose character, Monsieur Gustave H., is unlike anything the actor has done before or since and proves that, when he wants to be, he is capable of a wide range of characters. Too often, though, Ralph Fiennes is pigeonholed in a certain kind of role that we forget that he is capable of broad comedy and over-the-top theatrics. Unfortunately, while audiences responded favorably towards this performance, the Academy was less enchanted by it, and while the film was nominated for nine Oscars, none of them were for the acting.  

There is a certain expectation going into a Wes Anderson movie. To date, he has made twelve films, with a thirteenth hitting theaters later this year. While I have not seen all of them, I have seen most of them, and he has a distinct style that stands out as uniquely his own. His career has had peaks and ebbs, and at the time he made The Grand Budapest Hotel, it was ebbing. Moonrise Kingdom was considered a drop-off in quality— an opinion I do not share— but it was really his previous live-action film, The Darjeeling Limited, that had soured audiences to his work. You’re only as good as your last film, they say, and looking at the one-two punch of Darjeeling and Moonrise, people were starting to tire of his work. The animated Fantastic Mr. Fox goes ignored in this thanks to it being a work that felt aimed specifically for the wee ones, even though it really wasn’t. 

So after Moonrise Kingdom failed to strike gold at the box office, Wes Anderson needed something that would show that he still had it in him to make a hit. He got together with his longtime collaborator Hugo Guinness and, after a lot of back-and-forth, they settled on the concept of a fragmented tale that would follow a single character that was reminiscent of a mutual friend. Still, the story didn’t come to them easily, and it took touring Europe and coming across the writings, specifically the memoirs, of Stefan Zweig, to give them an inkling of how to break the story. What they would ultimately settle on would be considered by many to be the best film in Wes Anderson’s oeuvre. It is most certainly the most celebrated and awarded film of his. 

The story is told from three different timelines. The first is sometime in the recent past where a woman visits a shrine in the fictional former nation of Zubrowka. She holds a book from a renowned writer known simply as “Author.” This book, titled The Grand Budapest Hotel and published in 1985, recounts a visit the author made to the aforementioned hotel in 1968, many years after the once famous resort had fallen on hard times. During his stay, Author struck up a friendship with the hotel’s proprietor, Zero Moustafa (F. Murray Abraham), who recounts to the author of his amazing story over food and drinks. 

That story takes place in 1932, and Zero (Tony Revolori) has been orphaned and comes to Zubrowka to escape his war-laden homeland. He is hired as a lobby boy at The Grand Budapest Hotel by Gustave H. (Ralph Fiennes), an obsequious man who speaks poetically, yet often vulgarly, and romances the many older women who come to the hotel, many specifically for his services. One such woman, the wealthy dowager Madame Céline Villeneuve Desgoffe-und-Taxis (or simply Madame D., played by Tilda Swinton), has been seeing Gustave in secret for nearly two decades. When she dies suddenly, Gustave and Zero visit her estate to pay their respects, which leads to them being present at the reading of her will. 

This will includes many MANY amendments over the years, including one received just that morning that bequeaths Gustave a painting, Boy with Apple, a Renaissance painting that is priceless. Madame D.’s son, Dimitri (Adrien Brody),objects to this, but before legal means can be sought, Gustave and Zero leave with the painting, unbeknownst to him. The absence of this painting will not go noticed missing until late in the film, but other issues come up that will muddy up the waters. A new will, drafted right before her death, bequeaths her entire estate to Gustave should she meet with foul play. This new will has gone missing, and when it is discovered that she was murdered, Gustave is the prime suspect and is arrested. Meanwhile, Dimitri’s hired man, the psychopath J. G. Jopling (Willem Dafoe), is eliminating anyone that could bring this new will to light, including their lawyer, Vilmos Kovacs (Jeff Goldblum); Serge X. (Mathieu Amalric), the family butler who made a copy of the new will; and Serge’s sister who refuses to disclose where he is hiding. Some chases ensue, a prison breakout happens, and a shootout in the hotel threatens the lives of everyone. 

This whole affair feels like a shaggy dog story. But that is exactly what Wes Anderson is going for. He is using this structure to make commentary on such various subjects as racism, fascism, and even the value of property. The central object of desire, Boy with Apple, represents the latter. Gustave takes the painting off the wall and hangs up a rather vulgar painting in its stead, a painting that inexplicably happens to be leaning up against the wall nearby. While Dimitri makes a big deal about Gustave inheriting Boy with Apple, it isn’t until a long time later that he even notices that it is gone. Likewise, Gustave is excited about inheriting the painting, only to wrap it up and lock it away with the intent of selling it as soon as possible for no other reason than to avoid having it stolen back. This decision is the primary reason the copy of the new will isn’t found sooner, having been hidden by Serge in the painting’s frame. 

Gustave, himself, is a bit of an enigma. We learn little about his past nor how he came to be in the employment of the hotel, only that he started out as a lobby boy, like Zero, and worked his way up. Even his actions are a riddle. Is he romancing the women as a way of gaining favors from them, because he loves the company of older women, in service of the hotel, because it is expected of him, or all of the above? Even his mannerisms are a bit of a contradiction. He goes from flowery language, quoting poetry at the drop of a hat, followed immediately by an exclamation laced with profanity. At one point, upon being disappointed in Zero’s performance, he goes on a racist tirade only to realize that Zero is a refuge from his home country and Gustave turns 180, apologizing for his insensitivity and ignorance. This is a fascinating and head-scratching character all rolled into one and played to the hilt by Ralph Fiennes. 

Matching him in character, if not in personality, is Tony Revolori. Zero is just as much of a blank slate. We learn all we need to know about his character after that brief, but shocking, vitriol from Gustave. What Zero has, though, that Gustave doesn’t is a budding, but ultimately tragic, romance with the quiet, but forceful, Agatha (Saoirse Ronan), an apprentice baker who plays an important role in the final third of the film. This romance is cute, played up for laughs whenever she and Gustave are in the same room because he cannot resist flirting with her, and adds some proper tension in the final moments of the story proper. Her ultimate fate, though, is needlessly tragic and sours her and Zero’s story.

If you are familiar with Wes Anderson’s films, then you know the tone and vision you are going to get with this one. It doesn’t stand out from his other works in that way. It doesn’t even stand out tonally from the others. But there is something in the way the characters act and, more importantly, react that just works on a different level in this film than something like Moonrise Kingdom. Ralph Fiennes is a big part of that, but it is not just him. This film boasts seventeen name actors, many of whom were, or would become, mainstays in Wes’ movies. There are really no weak links in this cast, even Willem Dafoe, whose character borders on being one note. It’s the simple absurdities that prevent that from happening. All it takes is seeing his character tossing a cat out a window to its death to get the sense of him. That this film manages to depict this without losing the audience is a testament to the writers and to Wes Anderson for his direction. 

The Grand Budapest Hotel made me a fan of Wes Anderson. My only prior knowledge of his work was The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, a film that I saw once and really need to revisit. At the time, I knew not what I was getting into. Wes is a filmmaker who is not afraid to plant his vision on all of his films, regardless of whether it will find an audience or not. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it really doesn’t. The Grand Budapest Hotel is one of those cases where it not only works but it soars. The films he has released in the years since have mostly been good but are not quite on the same level. He’s in one of those ebbs again and needs another big hit. From what little I have seen of it, The Phoenician Scheme looks like it could have potential, and I will excitedly go see it this summer when it hits theaters. 

Academy Award Nominations:

Best Picture: Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steve Rales, and Jeremy Dawson

Best Director: Wes Anderson

Best Original Screenplay: Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness

Best Cinematography: Robert Yeoman

Best Costume Design: Milena Canonero (won)

Best Film Editing: Barney Pilling

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier (won)

Best Original Score: Alexandre Desplat (won)

Best Production Design: Adam Stockhausen and Anna Pinnock (won)

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Release Date: March 7, 2014

Running Time: 100 Minutes

Rated R

Starring: Ralph Fiennes, F. Murray Abraham, Mathieu Amalric, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Kietel, Jude Law, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Saoirse Ronan, Jason Schwartzman, Léa Seydoux, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson, Owen Wilson, and Tony Revolori

Directed By: Wes Anderson