There is a concierge, Mr. Gustave (Ralph Fiennes), who fetishizes old, blond, pale women. A lobby boy, Zero Mustafa (Tony Revolori,) who fled his war-torn country. A prestigious pink hotel that the movie is named after, the Grand Budapest Hotel, in the fictional Republic of Zubrowska. Around these two main characters and in this setting, Wes Anderson creates his wildest universe yet. Inspired by the writings of Stefan Zweig, there is at the core an unsolved mysterious murder and heritage story in which our main characters will embark themselves.
Rightful criticisms about Wes Anderson usually focus on the overwhelming ‘whiteness’ of his films, his lack of realism and the quirkiness. These same criticisms could be held against this movie but the quirkiness vanishes quickly as the story advances. There is still an obsession with details, pastel colors and cute pastry but it is a dark comedy with some violent and bloody moments.
His pet actors Bill Murray, Owen Wilson or Jason Schwartzman are all there making small appearances. Ralph Fiennes is really good as a sexually perverted yet loyal concierge of the hotel. Newcomer Tony Revolori really blends in Wes Anderson’s twisted universe, hopefully we’ll see him in more movies.
It’s really simple to know if a comedy is good or not: either you laughed or you didn’t. The genre has experienced a kind of golden age over the past years and it’s sometimes forgotten that Wes Anderson also directs comedies just like Judd Apatow. One thing is that people were laughing really loud three minutes into the movie. With Wes Anderson comedy arises not only from the dialogues, but the situations, the characters and his directing.
The Grand Budapest Hotel is definitely what we ask for when we go to the movie theater. It’s entertaining yet takes the spectator seriously. It offers a peculiar fictional world while still being in touched with reality, in this case the dark and fascist times of European history. It was a delightful and smart cinematic experience of those we’re not used to anymore.