Feature | Lights, Camera, Action! – The Grand Budapest Hotel (Movie Review)

The Grand Budapest Hotel (UK Rating: 15)

Set in a fictional Eastern European country, Zubrowka - between the wars - the film is actually the story of the hotel's legendary concierge, Gustave H. (Ralph Fiennes), and his friend and colleague, the lobby boy, Zero (Tony Revolori), who eventually inherits the hotel. Gustave's preference for older women lands him in trouble when one of them dies and leaves him a valuable painting, much to the anger of her two sons. All of which takes Gustave, Zero and the audience on a madcap journey with one of the murderous brothers on their tail.

As with all of his previous offerings, Anderson creates an individual world for his characters to populate, a place that bears a resemblance to reality but which has more than a little of the fantastic about it. This time it's just like the hotel in its glory days - a sugary pink confection full of luxurious ingredients, rather like the cakes from Mendl's in their uncredited role. However, appearances can be deceptive and, beneath the hotel's veneer, it's a very different world, with the hotel staff living in shabby rooms. The outside world isn't much better either, with war brewing, a mindless military and brutal prisons. Also, there are the two brothers (Adrien Brody and Willem Dafoe), who are baying for Gustave's blood.

A glorious mixture of farce, fantasy and pantomime all rolled into one, The Grand Budapest Hotel looks affectionately back over its shoulder to the 1930s Hollywood, Grand Hotel especially, which won the Best Picture Oscar in '32. While that, and other films in the same style, though, concentrated on the intertwined stories of the guests, Anderson's focus is very much on the hotel staff - two of them in particular - and their very own shaggy dog story.

Gustave H. may be the hotel's concierge, but he is treated with such reverence by staff and guests alike that he could be easily mistaken for the manager - somebody who is noticeably absent. A brilliant multi-tasker - his "walk with me" interview with Zero would put any self-respecting member of the cast of The West Wing to shame - he is immaculate, immediately recognisable from his liberal use of L'Air Du Panache and speaks beautifully, mixing courtesies and profanities in the same breath with consummate ease. Like everything and everybody else in The Grand Budapest Hotel, however, he has hidden depths and is far tougher and more resourceful than his effete manner might suggest. It's a tour de force performance from Ralph Fiennes. Gone is the brooding intensity that many associate with him and instead out comes a light touch and split-second comic timing. Wes Anderson is clearly good for him.

The majority of the cast is made up by regular members of Anderson's usual repertory company - Bill Murray, Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman and Edward Norton - alongside comparative newcomers such as Harvey Keitel, Jeff Goldblum and F. Murray Abraham. Tony Revolori as Zero is a newcomer, full stop, and a fascinating one. His impenetrable expression hardly changes throughout the film - except when he thinks Gustave is flirting with his beloved Agatha (Saoirse Ronan) - and all his acting is done with his voice.

[score=8]Wes Anderson has a reputation for being something of an acquired taste. Saying that, his more recent offerings, such as Moonrise Kingdom, have taken him more into the mainstream, and The Grand Budapest Hotel takes him further down that road. His quirky view of the world, though, is still intact, as is his fondness for stylised set pieces, so established fans should be happy and more recent ones will still be enjoying their voyage of discovery. More importantly, at a time when the cinema seems to be full of superheroes and sequels, it should bring him to an even wider audience - the one looking for something refreshingly different.