Image from ew.com.
A young writer (Jude Law), staying at the titular hotel, chances to encounter the establishment’s elderly owner, Zero Moustafa (F. Murray Abraham), who relates the tale of how he came to own the place “between the wars” in the mythical eastern European country of Zubrowka.
Zero began his career as a lobby boy in the hotel, under the mentorship of the hotel’s legendary concierge, M. Gustave (Ralph Fiennes). Gustave knows his eccentric, rich guests very well, particularly the elderly female ones. One such guest is Madame D (Tilda Swinton), with whom Gustave has an occasional fling. She is due to leave the hotel and return home, but she’s anxious, feeling that someone is conspiring around her. She fears she won’t see Gustave again.
Well, it’s not long before Madame D turns up dead, and Gustave (with Zero) rushes to her wake, only to find himself at the reading of the will. It will surprise few people that the only item of value in Madame D’s large estate has been bequeathed to Gustave – a painting called Boy with Apple. But the inheritance is quickly challenged by the deceased’s son Dmitri (Adrien Brody), who’s a plain mean and profane jerk. And then, as the trailer indicates, Gustave and the loyal Zero abscond with the painting anyway and hide it; Gustave is arrested and jailed.
The movie is brimming with spot-on performances. Bill Murray, Fisher Stevens, and Bob Balaban have small roles as fellow concierges. Jason Schwartzmann is a present-day lobby boy. Owen Wilson is Gustave’s immediate replacement as concierge. Harvey Keitel is a tough inmate. Willem Dafoe is a ruthless hitman in Dmitri’s employ. Most have worked in Wes Anderson films before, and all work very well together.
I’ve seen a few Wes Anderson movies, and I think this one most closely resembles Moonrise Kingdom in terms of its whimsical tone. In fact, it may even bear some relation to the Coen Brothers masterpieces O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Raising Arizona – black comedies whose success depends so much on their actors’ ability to really sell deadpan humor in an otherwise-serious context. Fiennes, who’s not known for his comedies, is superb as the gentlemanly Gustave, and he drives the movie with equal parts British reservedness and explosive irritation – but always with the utmost in manners. The movie is also beautifully shot, but frequent Anderson collaborator Robert D. Yeoman. From the stylish structure of the hotel to the stark desolation of the Alps, the film has a delightfully distinct look to it, par for the course for Anderson films.
The Grand Budapest Hotel: ***1/2
