THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL  3.7***

 

 

       Can a film be absurd, funny, exciting, violent and colorful all at the same time? Yes. “The Grand Budapest Hotel” combines all those elements. And I didn't even mention the most important characteristic: it is visually spectacular !!

 

Wes Anderson directed and co-wrote this zany/dark all-star comedy about a popular European concierge trying to clear his name of murder, with the aid of a recently employed lobby boy named Zero (who becomes his closest friend). The story is set between the two world wars and stars Ralph Fiennes as the concierge M. Gustave  at a once famous European hotel  during the height of its popularity (between the two world wars). M. Gustave is well liked by the hotel's richest guests (for his excellent customer service), especially older blonde women (who he personally made sure got all their needs met). When one such regular guest passes on, named Madame D. ( Tilda Swinton), Gustave is left a very valuable Renaissance painting. This causes quite a controversy with Madame D.'s family, especially her son Dmitri (Adrien Brody), and Gustave soon finds himself imprisoned for the Madame's murder. He then must rely on Zero, the lobby boy to get him out and to help him clear his name.  

 

M. Gustave is a personification of high level service, schooling the young Zero in the art of understanding what a guest wants, owning few possessions save for a perfume called "Eau de Panache" and a large collection of romantic poetry which is he quick to quote even in the most dire of circumstances. The whole movie is centered around the illusion that Mr. Gustave maintains and without it the whole thing would collapse.

Presenting itself as a story within a story, the movie jumps back to the eighties, to the sixties and finally to the late thirties, where the story of a romantic living in a cynical era takes place. The main story surrounding M.. Gustave and Zero moves fast and takes the characters to perfectly framed and constructed setting after setting, each looking like a new page in a gorgeous pop-up book. It's full of humor,  chase scenes, gunfights, a prison break and hilariously fake special effects, all meant to makes the events look increasingly amazing and ridiculous.

 

Fiennes, who's not known for his comedies, is superb as the gentlemanly Gustave, and he drives the movie with equal parts British reserve and explosive irritation and profanity - but always with the utmost in manners. Tony Revolori as young Zero and Saoirse Ronan as Agatha are remarkable. And then there were: F. Murray Abraham, Jude Law, Tilda Swinton, Adrien Brody, Willem Defoe, Jeff Goldblum, Edward Norton, Léa Seydoux, Harvey Keitel, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson. WHAT a cast !!! Just to be able to get all these heavy weights to sign up for minor roles, demands respect. To get them to all perfectly set their mark in a few minutes, is awesome

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The movie is  beautifully shot from the stylish grand structure of the hotel to the stark desolation of the Alps and the result is feast for the eyes. This is a delightful film which showcases beauty combined with dirt, great cinematography with dry jokes, and art with silliness. If you like to be amazed, see something quite out of the ordinary, and can relax and go with the flow, you will LOVE this movie.

 

Rated R for language, some sexual content and violence.

Clark