I have not watched any films made by Wes Anderson, so I don’t know if it’s his style of making movie or it’s just in The Grand Budapest Hotel. The movie really gave me a sense of a theatre like production on stage: the acting from every character and especially the non-diegetic sound which really helps with building up the tension of the plot and just the audience more focused with what the characters are doing. I really wanted to emphasize on the music, it is really an important part of the film and the choices and timing of it are both really great. Just a few key scenes to point out: when all the people are waiting for Kovacs to announce the death will of Madame D, when Gustav and Zero is chasing Jopling in the snow skiing, when Gustav and the other are breaking out of the prison, when Dimitri is chasing Agatha with the painting almost at the end, just to name a few. The movie started with a drastic setting, both location and time changes, to build up the initial story telling. From mostly modern time with a statue of the author, to the author in his old age speaking, to the out-dated age of the Grand Budapest hotel, and finally when the story really happened in 1932. Much of the story telling made in the film is from the narrator’s perspective, either from the writer or the old Zero. The two of them are having a meal together when old Zero told the writer most of the history of how he got the hotel. I think the purpose of it is to make the audience and the writer in the same shoes, listening to the story together. The outside narrative also made it easier for the director to convey a lot of the information and how characters feel in an easier way.
In terms Mise-en-scene, color is the most important element that stand out to me. In different locations, the hotel, Madame D’s place, the prison, every place has different themes of color. Especially in the hotel, everyone has many colorful clothings and warm lighting, all the aesthetic designs and choices, that are high contrast with the cold weather outside.
Another point of contrast is when they three of them are on the train the second time as Gustav got killed by the soldiers, the entire scene was in black and white. I do believe that is something Wes Anderson wanted to convey and hint to the theme of the movie about civilization, it is ended as Gustav died. And this is the area where I wanted to get more clear about, the deeper meaning behind character’s action, what they symbolizes of civilization and war, and the relationship between Gustav and Zero.
Hi Leo,
You have highlighted a lot of lovely observations that I too had while watching Anderson’s masterpiece. I wanted to expand upon your comment that talked about TGBH’s inherent theatricality. As the film is essentially stories within stories, it made me think about how we should perceive Anderson’s direction of performance in the film. I would posit that the dry, sarcastic humor of the film isn’t meant to be representative of the reality of what actually happened, but how the story was told by the older Zero. It made me think about how in the real world when we are telling stories, we add extra details, paraphrase conversations, and inject humor into what could be completely non-humorous situations. This relates directly back to the concept of mise-en-scene. Anderson is so cognizant of his vision and the performance of his actors that the action in the film almost seems tongue-in-cheek and meta. Because of this, the film has such a lighter tone than what it looks like on paper. There are some crazy and pretty messed up things that happen in TGBH, but due to the almost larger-than-life performances from the actors and the sly, biting direction of Anderson, it makes for a really entertaining watch.
Hi,
You are completely right about the fact that the movie gives a sense of a theater production, I felt the same way! I don’t know if it’s the amazing costuming or the color scheme- but it definitely does give off an other worldly vibe- almost as if it was carefully made for a stage production just like you said. I think the different themes of color that you mentioned also add to this a lot- once again giving off the carefully selected for a stage production vibes rather than feeling natural to us. However, I do believe this makes the movie so much more enjoyable because in the most basic sense- it is very easy on the eyes, definitely beautiful to look at! I thought the same about how we were made to feel like the writer- and I thought that made the entire very immersive especially because we were also taking notes during watching.