The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) - Film Review

Neyouno ケカ
Apr 20
8 min read

Updated: Apr 23

A story so peculiar yet leaves you with a feeling that there was no need to hear it but just the character's need to tell it.

Introduction

The thing that immediately jumps out is the incredible scenery and cinematography done beautifully in the weird and peculiar style of Wes Anderson. As per his usual works the film is quite odd, quite daring and quite confident. The Hotel is lavish pink and the staff is royally purple, everything about the Hotel and the film as a whole is so extra so out there, but that is par for the course for Wes Anderson. Naturally the story can't be told linearly or directly. We are following a girl reading a book by a young writer who was told the life and story of Mr. Moustafa by the man himself. Naturally the story is incredibly biased and embellished paired with the art style and camera work the film is simply making it sure that you don't know for sure what is going to happen next. Once the film gets going and the weird and convoluted introduction is set the story flow is mostly done as a retelling which jumps through time stamps every so often and is broken up by chapters.

Cinematography and Visuals

The way the scenery changes from scene to scene is both done masterfully with incredible camera work and also artistically quite beautiful. Each establishing shot is framed from a far resembling a painting so to speak, and then slowly as the camera gets closer the characters begin to move. This frames majority of the set pieces in the film as a picture book you are reading and following along. The colours, chosen quite deliberately, are sort of dreamlike, my assumption is that this is done in order to help facilitate the painting that Mr. Moustafa is creating. Most of the visuals in the film are trying to pull us deeper into the idea of the story itself and make us believe that much more. On top of this some of the shots in this film are just wonderful. Some times you can just assume that a shot is framed in way to use the scenery multiple times but for different reasons, while at others it's just simply there to make a mundane thing look neat and interesting, whether it be calling a cab or climbing down spiral stairs. The film is in general quite odd, quite weird, quite dreamlike and quite cool in terms of visuals and it draws you into listening and slowly but surely believing everything more and more

Story

While the story is quite straightforward and easy to follow the thing that makes it interesting is both the excessive use of layers in delivering the story to us and the sort of dreamlike childlike embellishment of the finer details. As previously mentioned the story is being told through a lens of an older Mr. Moustafa who continuously comes to this old semi-abandoned Hotel he basically grew up in. However the story of his life is more so the story of his mentor and lifelong friend Mr. Gustave who took him in trained him and had more than a few lavish adventures with him. Due to this a lot of the story, especially the parts that only Gustave could've told Moustafa feel surreal and quite dreamy mostly bolstering the image of Gustave himself. These are the moments where the visuals get even more intense the camera work does its magic and you get pulled in and sort of begin to idolize Gustave, however whether it be consciously or sub-consciously, Moustafa throws in a few crumbs that showcase the humanity and flawed nature of Gustave. My main gripe with the story is that, despite the somewhat interesting setup the story isn't that poignant, it doesn't feel as though there is a real need to hear it or in this case see it, nor is it really a confession about Moustafa's wrongdoings that got him rich, it is more so a reminiscence of a life he clearly misses. The story while peculiar and peculiarly told, and obviously not as mundane as everyday life, isn't as glorious as the Hotel is painted to be. Whether this is trying to tell us something or not is a thing i am yet to decide myself, however the film is truly great in drawing the curiosity out of you, whether it be due to its visuals, due to its interesting scenes or due to the meaning of the whole piece.

Characters

While the film is filled with a colourful cast, which is played by a surprisingly large amount of well known, well established actors, the crux of the story is almost exclusively carried by the two protagonists. As previously mentioned Zero Moustafa is the man telling us the story, through many a mediator of course, and his dear mentor Gustave H. This film is absolutely carried by the brilliant performance of Ralph Fiennes as Gustave H, he brings an incredibly odd and somewhat unsettling balance of the idealized concierge and a somewhat oddly hurt man who yearns for the better times through his love of poetry and finer things in life, while also courting the older, frailer and richer blond women that frequent his Hotel. This of course leads him to stay mostly the same throughout the film, headstrong in his beliefs while teetering the line of being quite repulsing and quite charming. He clearly cares about his protege and his relationship while also finding it quite difficult not to flirt with her. He clearly showcases grief for one of his late damsels while also immediately creating an intricate plan with the single heirloom he believes she left him. This sort of meticulous planning coupled with a sort of carefree strut through life, creates a uniquely peculiar character that is genuinely worth meeting, the film's greatest fault probably being that we just don't get quite enough of him and that his death though potentially meaningful in the grand scheme of things is quite dull and doesn't follow suit to the majority of his life, regardless if Mr. Moustafa deems it differently.

And, of course, speaking of Mr. Moustafa, he is a rather peculiar boy himself, he comes from a war torn country, left with pretty much zero as his name would suggest, left to struggle on his own until he meets Gustave which does indeed create even more struggle but ends up giving him a life of both wealth and emptiness as his name would yet again suggest. There's plenty of moments in this film where you'd feel like Zero is not a fully fleshed out character, he has moments of levity and determinism akin to his mentor, however you are left feeling that that truly isn't him. At the end of the film, while he is wrapping up the story of how he fell into his fortune and more so fell into the teachings of Gustave the true thing that he misses is his beloved Agatha. While this moment feels empty, due to the majority of the story being completely focused on Gustave, it leaves you feeling that this emptiness carried over from Gustave is most likely what Zero has been feeling ever since he became the owner and concierge of the Grand Budapest Hotel. Whether this symmetry was the goal of the writers or whether it was a mere coincidence i am not sure, neither am i sure that the character of Zero is fully explored, however i am quite sure that the character tried his best to live up to Gustave which is why the story he chose to tell was mostly that of his mentor rather than his own.

Addendum

After finishing up the review and publishing it i was so drawn to the film that i felt a rather strong need to do further research and felt it necessary to add a few more notes regarding the themes and the overarching inspiration of the film. One of the writers credited for the script of the film, Stefan Zweig, was an Austrian writer who was absolutely appalled by the damage the Nazi party was doing to the general culture during the world war. The most poignant thing about Gustave's character is the fact that he, much like his protégé Zero comes from nothing, yet he has a deep yearning for higher society. His love for poetry and manners showcases that his real yearning is not for power but for culture art and genuine love for other human beings. At first you believe that his hospitality is a facade, however as the story progresses he showcases a genuine understanding for people around him. The first glimmer of this is when this film's version of the Nazi soldiers attempts to apprehend Zero, at which point Gustave stands up for him and defends him while also showcasing his true disdain of the regime, or more so what this regime has done to the culture he aspired to. Interestingly enough almost every time he shows his vulnerable side and love it is followed by his facade dropping and his disdain and hate of the deterioration of everything he deems valuable starts showing. When he is discussing his love of the portrait of the Boy with an Apple and the mistress who had given it to him, he is immediately under extreme urgency to get away from the ensuing attack by the fictional Nazi equivalent both on his country and the culture he holds so dear. It is then quite poetic that the final time he fights for his ideals and his friend Zero's freedom he ends up dead for his ideals. This sentiment is then echoed by Zero himself at the end of the film when he says that his friend's idealistic world had already been long gone by the time he was so desperate to find it. This showcases the twisted nature that human nature yearning for power is always going to erode the final things if not put in check, until only glimmers remain.

Conclusion

While this film isn't ground breaking or incredible in terms of the story it's trying to tell, nor is the humour particularly poignant, the peculiarity of it all, the film, the scenery, the characters, leaves you thinking of certain moments a lot more than you normally would. Whether this be in the movie itself or your own life, it truly is there to evoke a feeling of uneasiness and peculiarity. Ah yes, peculiarity, the one word i kept repeating to myself after the credits had rolled. It is rather hard to rate a film so peculiar, so odd, so clearly good and so clearly not bad, yet incomplete and complete at the same time. If i was to create my ratings as though they were recommendations this film would undoubtedly garner a clear 100/100 mark. Yet I am left still undecided whether this film is a masterpiece or a flawed, yet interesting piece of art. I am going to stick with my wholehearted recommendation and leave it as a rather peculiar 100/100, and leave the rest to you.