Intro to Film 2025 • Professor Gregory Zinman • Emory University

How does Anderson’s filming approach affect the way we understand this film’s theme?

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Tongwei Zhang

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In the Grand Budapest Hotel, as I searched the background of its creation, the film’s director Wes Anderson was partly inspired by the novels and memoirs of Austrian writer Stefan Zweig, whose work often talks about the disappearance of old European culture. I believe it influences the tone of the film and its focus on the decline of an era. Also, the film style especially emphasize symmetry, and the camera is almost always positioned directly from the front, side or back. Shots taken from an oblique angle is almost not exist, which always create a sense of precision and this strict formalism gives audience the feeling that the film is almost like a painting or a stage.


Also, another detail I noticed while watching is that Anderson uses three distinct aspect ratios in the film to visually separate the timelines. The first two parts use 1.85:1(1980s), the third part adopts the widescreen format of 2.35:1(1960s), and the most important final part uses the classic industrial standard of old films, 1.37:1(1930s).（https://b23.tv/JTTba6Q, 拉片实验室，2020)

Screenshot

In the end, I think one of the most striking scenes for me is the train inspection. In the first inspection, the inspection is conducted by local policemen who still remain some sense of civility, wearing classical uniforms, and Gustave is able to resolve the situation through his personal connections. However, in the second inspection, Zubrowka is no longer an independent state, and the temporary pass that previously was issued by Norton is not working. The policemen are now armed soldiers in identical uniforms. I believe Anderson was using costume, this element of Mise-en-scène to strengthen the contrast. In the end, the film shift to black-and-white imagery which I may consider as a metaphor for Nazi Germany.


My question is: How does Anderson’s stylized filming approach, which are his symmetry, colors, and changing aspect ratios affect the way we understand this film’s themes-cultural decline?

Comments

4 responses to “How does Anderson’s filming approach affect the way we understand this film’s theme?”

  1. Andrew Cai Avatar
    Andrew Cai

    Great observations! I really enjoyed your comparison of the police in the two train scenes, and how the original civilized police were replaced by ZZ death squads. I also noticed how the police officers’ uniforms were clean and a neutral grey, while the death squads’ uniforms were unkempt and black. It could’ve been because of the black and white color of the shot, but it also seemed like the death squad characters themselves were dirtier than the police officers, perhaps connecting them back to the “gems in the slaughterhouse” quote from earlier in the movie (with the death squads being members of the “barbaric slaughterhouse”).

    As for your question, I believe Anderson’s changing aspect ratios and set design are meant to criticize change. Like you’ve brought up, the changing aspect ratios are used to depict the passing of time, and the changes in film and national trends along with it. For example, The Grand Budapest Hotel begins as a regal building employing pink, red, and gold colors. Then, when it transitions to the 80s, it’s renovated using grey and brown. It might’ve just been me, but I felt the Grand Budapest Hotel in the 80s was significantly uglier than its original pink design. If the feeling of disgust the renovated building instills in us is intentional, it could be Wes Anderson turning to the audience and asking: Is it really necessary to change with time? Why are we in such a rush to get rid of the past and replace it with something “trendy”?

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  2. Mary Frances Miller Avatar
    Mary Frances Miller

    Hi Tongwei,
    I think your background research gives valuable insight into the theme of cultural decline and Wes Anderson’s intentionality throughout the film. I also noticed how the shots were formulated and how they evoke a sense of whimsy and geometric simplicity in the scene. I agree with your observation about the shots feeling like a play or a stage. The set design and color also contribute to that feeling of watching a play, with the intense separation of foreground and background.
    Your observation about the aspect ratios is interesting, and I think that they greatly aid the viewer in following the narrative structure. Using different aspect ratios to give form to the narrative is a very clever plot device. As mentioned before, the aspect ratios contribute to that nesting doll effect, with the smaller aspect ratios loosely representing older time periods.
    The train scene is also a very memorable scene for me. Anderson utilizes prop in the ticket, costuming in the uniforms, and a black and white color scheme to show how the times have changed. For me, the black and white color scheme especially foreshadowed Gustav’s death. In what was previously a very brightly colored film, Anderson uses mise-en-scene to unsettle the viewer and emphasize that the era Gustav was living in was well and truly over.
    Overall, I enjoyed reading about your thoughts, and I appreciate the background research you did to further understand the film!

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  3. Ethan Zuo Avatar
    Ethan Zuo

    Great observation on the observation policemen. The original ones are only policemen conducting their duty, while the latter SS soldiers in black uniform are more like the power of Hitler (corresponding to history), compared the the grey uniformed policemen.

    I would like to expand more on the film ratio you mentioned.

    The 1.37:1 format of the 1930s is done by using the 35 millimetre lens, using the Blimped Newsreel Camera, which is designed to capture sound under quiet conditions. This becomes the standard of the industry during the 1930s called the Academy ratio. It immerses us in the elegance and refinement of a world. As we all know, political instability later the century will cause the 1.37:1 format l soon disappear.

    The 2.35:1 format shown in the film, was originally designed to combat the rise of television. By bring a cheap, commercial way of watching things at home, the film industry is greatly affected by television, and it shifted toward the widescreen effect, giving the audience a more epic experience while at the cinema.

    Finally, the 1.85:1 of the 1980s is a more modern, standardized ratio. The most commonly used equipment are Panavision Cameras and Arri cameras. The ratio only requires directors to block the top and bottom of a regular 35mm lens to achieve the effect of wide screen. This eliminated the need for special lens to achieve the past 2.35:1 ratio, and make everything more cheap and easy to be produced.

    In the film, that aspect ratio coincides with a timeline where the golden age of the hotel is fading, yet Anderson frames it expansively, as if to ironically contrast the shrinking of the hotel with a wider cinematic frame. Each ratio is not only about an era in Zubrowka’s decline but also about how films of those real-world decades “framed” the world.

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    1. Ethan Zuo Avatar
      Ethan Zuo

      All commonly used 35 mm lens, but the 2.35:1 ratio is done by a special lens, 1.37:1 is achieved using aperture plate, 1.85:1 is done by masking the top and bottom of a regular 35mm lens

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