A colorful magic
The Grand Budapest Hotel is set in an imaginary country –- one that lies “on the farthest eastern boundary of the European continent.” While the story (actually, several stories within stories) shifts among different time periods, the main narrative takes place between the two World Wars, when old world virtues (i.e. aristocratic privileges) of elegance, opulence and sophistication were slowly eroding, driven in part by dark forces — Fascism and, later, Communism — gathering on the horizon.
Ralph Fiennes is absolute perfection as Monsieur Gustave H., the legendary concierge at the celebrated spa resort the Grand Budapest Hotel. A bon vivant, unfailingly polite and refined (albeit with a surprisingly vulgar streak), exacting in his attention to detail and demanding of his underlings, Gustave runs a tight ship that has helped steer the Grand Budapest to its world-class reputation. Needing an obedient and trustworthy ally and protégé, he takes the new, junior lobby boy, the marvelously-named Zero Moustafa (Tony Revolori in a promising acting debut), under his wing. A shy, unassuming young man, but honest, loyal and increasingly resourceful, Zero is a war orphan from some distant, unidentified Middle-Eastern conflict.
The film’s breathless, madcap air and clever, fast-paced dialogue are a perfect fit for a convoluted but consistently amusing plot that encompasses murder, mayhem, romance, a dowager’s contested will, a priceless painting, more murders, false imprisonment, a daring prison escape, and a hair-raising chase down the Alpine slopes –- all impeccably executed by Anderson and his long-time collaborators, cinematographer Robert Yeoman and production designer Adam Stockhausen. Composer Alexandre Desplat adds a zesty, appropriately Eastern European-flavored score and a toe-tapping number that accompanies the ending credits.
The enthusiastic cast includes an unrecognizable Tilda Swinton as an octogenarian dowager who, like so many of the hotel’s elderly female (and male) guests, is in love with the much younger, but always attentive and compliant, Gustave. F. Murray Abraham is heartbreakingly persuasive as a much older Zero, who relates the hotel’s history to guest (and film narrator) Jude Law and, in the process, relives his love affair with Agatha (Saoirse Ronan), the young pastry chef assistant. The one irritating element in the film is the preponderance of cameos by Anderson’s stock company of actors (and close friends): Bill Murray, Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman, to name just three. It’s simply too “inside;” they take you out of the movie.
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