Magnificent Candy Coloured Patisserie that leaves a bitter-sweet taste in the mouth

Rating: 8/10 (10 March 2014)

Wes Anderson, like the Coens and Spike Jonze among others, operates on what might be termed 'magical realism', a quirky and odd style that is very un-American but which is familiar to European audiences. After 2012's charming Disney-esque children's film "Moonrise Kingdom" Anderson has returned to his former form with a strange little tale filled with sex (light) violence (occasional but nasty) swearing (lots) and black humour (plentiful) The marketing for this film makes it appear a jolly gay comedy romp, and to some extent it is, but there is also a darker side, a melancholy that comes with the death of a golden age and the sufferings of Eastern Europe under the twin evils of Fascism and Communism, mostly captured in the historical bookends featuring a writer inspired by the Austrian satirist Stefan Zweig (whose tales also inspired this movie) It is also a film about how stories are passed down from one to the other, inspiring new hearts each time (rather like "Cloud Atlas")
Set in a fantasy Ruritanian country called Zubrowka (which is clearly either Hungary or Czechoslovakia) it begins and ends with a girl student in present day Zubrowka admiring a statue of a great national writer whose 1985 book "The Grand Budapest Hotel" she is reading. We see him in '85 as a mature man (Tom Wilkinson) recounting how he came to know this story as a young man (Jude Law) staying at the decrepit ruin of the once magnificent hotel for his health. Here he meets the owner, the legendary Arab Zero Mustafa (F.Murray Abraham) who is now an impoverished and lonely man. Over dinner her recounts the tale that begins in 1932 when he was a young immigrant lobby boy at the then splendid old GBH under the tutelage of Gustave H. (Ralph Fiennes) a camp prissy bisexual concierge who is noted for his success with the older ladies that frequent it, something he does for money and prospects but also for pleasure, enjoying the company of these Grande dames from a bygone era of Imperial splendour. One such lady, Madame D. (Tilda Swinton in body foam) becomes nervous and shortly after returning home is murdered. In her will she bequeaths him her most prized possession, the Dutch old school masterpiece "Boy with Apple" much to the chagrin of her brutish and estranged son Dmitri (Adrian Brody) and his psychopathic henchman Jopling (Willem Defoe), both members of the burgeoning Nazi movement (or "ZZ fraternity" here) that is straining to take power and achieve 'Anschluss" with its larger neighbour. Egged on by the butler Serge X (Mathieu Almariac) he and Mustafa steal the painting, unaware Serge has hidden a copy of Madame D's secret last will in the back, one which would make them a lot of money and lose Dmitiri everything. Framed for the murder and imprisoned, Gustave gets help from Mustafa and Agatha (Saoirse Ronan) the pretty baker's girl for the legendary Mendels patisserie and his newfound paramour as well as group of cons led by Ludwig (Harvey Keitel) to escape and prove his innocence, pursued doggedly by both Jopling, who is murdering his way through all the leads to get to Serge and by sympathetic police inspector Henckels (Edward Norton) who as a boy was a fond friend of Gustave's during his families summer vacations at the GHB. After much chasing, fighting, shooting, running, hanging out of windows and ledges, disguises and other 'man on the run' tropes, the heroes win.or do they? As this pulp thriller caper was going on, history was turning and the Nazi's have taken power, and to their cost they find that the old imperial splendour and everything it represented has truly gone forever!
The look of the film is of course wonderful, with a deliberately artificial candy coloured dreamland version of inter-war Eastern Europe that the Swastika and The Hammer and Sickle eventually crush into drab grey conformity and gloom, complete with cardboard models and sets straight from the German Expressionist movement. The all-star cast on that big poster are good, though some like Bill Murray (another concierge who lends a hand) Own Wilson (another concierge) Lea Seydoux (Madame D's maid) Jason Schwartzman (1985 concierge) and even Wilkinson to an extent are just glorified cameos. The star of the film is Fiennes, a serious actor with a love for comedy who creates a unique and fun spin on his signature foppish persona that's like a gay, self-absorbed gigolo version of Steed from "The Avengers". Newcomer Tony Revolori makes a good straight man to this comic buffoon as young Mustafa, while Ronan plays an unusually normal and sweet girl for once. Brody makes for a hateable heavy while Defoe returns to his roots as the 'gorilla' who is genuinely menacing and frightening and gets an appropriately spectacular send off. Keitel is funny and tough in a small but important role, and Jeff Goldblum plays the family lawyer who plays both sides to his cost.
Being at heart a sort of Daschle Hammett pulp thriller there are also lots of un-Andersonesque action sequences including a crazy speed of light downhill ski chase (done with models no less) and a final firefight battle inside the GHB between Dmitri's ZZ henchman and Henckle's police. Many have complained about the sombre ending, but that is I suppose the whole point of the story and it is telegraphed from the very start if you look close enough. Still, the 'comic pulp noir Ruritanian' tale at its heart is fun and entertaining if it is mirth and levity alone you seek.
PS – Stick around for the animated Cossack who appears dancing to the catchy Balalaika theme during the end credits (3-4 minutes in)