Review: ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’

Wes Anderson films always have a certain feel, a certain look, and an air of artificiality that makes any emotional resonance feel tongue in cheek. In The Grand Budpest Hotel, he perfects that art and makes the most “Wes Anderson film” that has ever been made. And it’s wonderful.

No one else could make a WWII drama without ever mentioning WWII or Hitler. Yet it is still obvious that this film is set in the Nazi era, even if the country it’s set in is imaginary.

There’s not much if a linear plot here. Instead there are three prologues, each setting up a different level of the film, and all leading back to where the story begins.

It’s 1932, a young boy named Zero is starting a job as the lobby boy in The Grand Budapest. His direct superior is a famous concierge known as Monsieur Gustav. All the hotel’s inner workings comes under Gustav’s control and he take enormous pride in his work. Work that includes servicing the wealthy dowagers who press money upon him in exchange for services rendered.

And it is one of these ladies who sets the film in motion. When the much coiffed Madam D. is found dead, her family is shocked that her latest Will leaves much of her fortune, including a valuable painting, to Gustav.  Her daughters and son go to great lengths to ensure that the real Will is never read, so Gustav and Zero flee with the painting. But Madam D.’s family are never far behind.

The supporting performances are pitch perfect here, whether it’s Edward Norton’s apologetic policeman, or Jeff Goldblum as a crooked attorney. But no one is as good, or as unexpected as Fiennes. His Gustav is so impeccably mannered that his occasional unexpected outbursts of profanity are both incongruous and hilarious.

The production design is also a star. The Grand Budapest is by turns a pristine pink palace nestled in picturesque mountains and a garish relic of fallen Eastern Bloc glory, with flashes of its former beauty peeking out every now and then.

Anderson fans will love this film on principle, but I think this may well be the one to change the minds of viewers who have never fully appreciated the beauty and genius of his work.

9.5/10

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