Review of The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) by Paul V — 24 May 2015

Inspired by the original story written by Stefan Zwieg, The Grand Budapest Hotel could be Wes Anderson's masterpiece. The film which is made in typical Wes Anderson style, following his previous work which includes; Moonrise Kingdom, Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums to name a few, all share character based, charming and unique stories. He has truly perfected his filming style (you know when you're watching a Wes Anderson film) pairing that with the most exceptional cast, some of whom have been cast members in previous Anderson films.

I'd describe this particular film as a matryoshka doll way of storytelling with each story nested within another. I've read that Wes had described this film as a kind of "confessional" which it is kind of true because it has a secretive storytelling kind of feel to it.

It takes place "On the furthest eastern boundary of the European continent: The former Republic of ZUBROWKA. Once the seat of an Empire." the story revolves around two characters firstly M. Gustave (played brilliantly by Ralph Fiennes) this character is a charming, well perfumed, meticulous man who is the embodiment of the hotel. Secondly we have Zero (impressively played by Tony Revolori) who is the new lobby boy at The Grand Budapest Hotel.

M. Gustave has many friends who visit the hotel wholly to see him, all of which were "rich, old, insecure, vain, superficial, blonde, needy". He attends to them all personally (watch out for the clip of him receiving a blowy from one of the guests, blink and you'll miss it!) but when one of his guests ends up dying under suspicious circumstances (Madame Céline Villeneuve Desgoffe und Taxis - played by Tilda Swinton) and with M. Gustave receiving a valuable painting (Boy with Apple) in Madame Céline will, the family become enraged and declare M. Gustave shall not have it causing a hilarious almost child like argument. So begins the adventure of M. Gustave and Zero, they have to take on many obstacles in order to keep on to Boy with Apple. With M. Gustave being framed for her death, M. Gustave attempts to evade arrest by running through the lobby of the hotel being chased by the police which is hilarious but what I liked most about this scene is how Anderson makes you feel like you're a bystander watching this unfold for real by keeping the camera still and having no music.

I feel like this film isn't so much about the story but more about how each character how they develop and the relationships that grow throughout; the relationship between Gustave and Zero is a lovely sentiment as their bond grows stronger throughout the film. One of the key scenes is Gustave taking up the guardian role which is summed up within the train scenes where he sticks up for Zero twice as army officials want to arrest him, theres another probably more important scene that I believe bound them together was when M. Gustave breaks out of prison and had loses his shit with Zero for forgetting Lady Panash (M. Gustave's favourite cologne) in turn questioning Zero's upbringing and coming to the conclusion that Zero is a war refugee, he immediately apologies to Zero and they hug it out "we're brothers".

Nearing the end of the film there is a chaotic firefighter scene with everyone getting involved which I feel sums up the environment in which this story is surrounded by and that is unfortunately war (and during war valuable goods are fought over).

Its almost as if you're just along for the ride whether you love or hate these characters (except Gustave. Everybody should LOVE Gustave!); the way in which this film is told and created is utterly fantastic almost as if it was a fairy-tale... for adults because there's death, sex and swearing in it.

"You see, there are still faint glimmers of civilization left in this barbaric slaughterhouse that was once known as humanity. Indeed that's what we provide in our own modest, humble, insignificant... oh, fuck it.".

Charmingly beautiful.