A whimsical story centred around a notable hotel

Rating: 8/10 (5 April 2014)

Years later, Zero Moustafa, present owner and former lobby boy at the Grand Budapest Hotel, relates the exciting chain of events that led to the hotel coming into his possession. It all begins with the concierge Gustave, who runs the whole establishment and regularly has affairs with the hotel's female patrons. One of his lovers, a duchess, dies in mysterious circumstances and leaves him a highly valuable painting, The Boy with The Apple. The family is determined not to let him have the painting, so with Zero in tow, he steals it and later winds up in jail. But he stages a really exciting escape, and inherits the whole fortune, which went to Zero upon his premature death.
While there was an undercurrent of darkness, the director kept the tone light throughout, making it feel as if nothing that happened was too terrible and everything would come right again. The plot felt a bit far-fetched at certain points, but it was just within the range of believability and I was happy to go along with it. Gustave was such an interesting character - flamboyant, vain, determined, charismatic. There was also this aura of mystery about him, which not even Zero could fully penetrate. The hotel itself was splendid both in its heyday, and at the point when the story was told. Gustave and Zero's devotion to the place made it come alive for me. Altogether, one of the better movies this year!