Grand Budapest Hotel starts (and ends) in a wonderful fashion, which initially causes a touch of confusion, but once the characters are properly sorted it tickles the fancy. The movie starts out with a young woman at a statue, a book in her hands. It then switches to an elderly author played by Tom Wilkinson who is giving a radio (or perhaps television) lecture from his home, but is interrupted from doing so by his grandson. The movie quickly jumps back to the time when the author was much younger (Jude Law) and staying at the once opulent, but now decaying, Grand Budapest Hotel. He runs into the owner, Mr. Moustafa (F. Murray Abraham) who offers to tell him a story. They meet over a meal and the time shifts again to when Mr. Moustafa was the lobby boy who went by the name Zero (Tony Revolori). As the movie concludes, we start jumping forward through time and perhaps one comes to believe that the largely untold life of the author was so much more joyful than the told story of Mr. Moustafa.
Most of the movie occurs around Zero and his boss M. Gustave (Ralph Fiennes) during the 1940s. M. Gustave has a thing for older women. He seems to like the older women, but one also can’t help but think he’s hoping that it will all pay off someday. It does (or maybe not). Madame D. (Tilda Swinton), one of his elderly lovers, leaves the Grand Budapest Hotel with some trepidation. She is unsure she will ever return. Her fears are well placed as it is soon learned that she passes away. M. Gustave takes Zero with him as they rush off to pay their respects.
When they get there, her will is being read. Madame D. in a last second gesture wills a painting (Boy with Apple) to M. Gustave. This painting is priceless and the son of Madame D., Dmitri (Adrien Brody), is not going to let it go without a fight. This results in all manner of havoc.
The movie takes place during World War II; however, like everything in this movie we find ourselves in a parallel universe. This provides a fun little exercise in the movie. The Grand Budapest Hotel (now why is the hotel called Budapest when everything else is placed in a parallel universe is something I can’t explain) provides an indication that the Republic of Zubrowka is actually Hungary. This being the 1940s, war is brewing from a country that we can assume are the Nazi Germans. Creating this parallel universe makes laughing throughout the movie pleasurable as you don’t have the disconcerting thoughts racing through your head regarding the evils that the real Nazi Germans were doing to the world at that time.
I loved the detail that was put into the movie. When Mr. Moustafa and the young author meet up in the spa there are all these signs throughout the bath area. I got very distracted as I was attempting to read what all the signs said. One in particular was just out of focus and I found myself just hoping that it’d move into focus so that I could read what it was saying. There are other details such as the bakery boxes, the museum, Madame D’s house and so much more to mention.
Scenes are not the only area where detail is emphasized. The side characters are clearly drawn out, adding to the charm of this movie. Zero’s girlfriend Agatha played by Saorse Ronan, Jopling as the henchman for Dmistri played by Willem Dafoe and Deputy Kovacs played by Jeff Goldblum are perfect examples. Well, one could just list all the side characters.
As I was watching this movie, I couldn’t help but think about some of my favorite screwball comedies from the 1930s/1940s such as Bringing Up Baby (Cary Grant/Katharine Hepburn) and The Philadelphia Story (Cary Grant/Katharine Hepburn/Jimmy Stewart). The Grand Budapest Hotel differs vastly in directing style, but the over-acting cadence and the plot twists and turns throughout are familiar.
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