![]() This is true of the bedrooms of the Tenenbaum children, the lovingly organized bookshelves in the Belafonte library, and even in the ramshackle luxury of the Darjeeling Limited, a vehicle that promises adventure. For him, built spaces come to life when they reflect the ideals, aspirations and longings of the individual. With The Grand Budapest Hotel, Wes Anderson comes close to proposing a theory of architecture. All of the delicacy and whimsy have been lost as contemporary tastes have moved toward the utilitarian and (implicitly) collectivist values of the new regime.īy the 1960s, the Grand Budapest had lost its lustre. While most of the film showcases the Grand Budapest in its prime before the war, a few take place in the 1960s, when the furnishings have become drab and the exterior covered in raw concrete. Many of the interior shots of the hotel, including those of the grand lobby, were taken in the vacant Görlitz Department Store, a palatial Art Nouveau structure built in 1929. The exterior shots of the hotel are a miniature model and no effort is made to conceal this fact. Given the fact that the hotel is primarily a symbol of Monsieur Gustave’s humane way of seeing the world, it is fitting that it is depicted more as an idea than reality. He represents the liberal values that totalitarian movements, both fascist and communist, would seek to stamp out in the ensuing decades. ![]() Gustave has an infectious elegance that at first seems campy, but over time is shown to be an ennobling reflection of his individuality. ![]() This is thanks to the careful work of master concierge, Monsieur Gustave, played by Ralph Fiennes, who oversees the hotel’s operations with pride and panache. ![]() In the face of ominous political forces mounting in the region, the Grand Budapest Hotel - a pink and cream manor perched on a mountaintop and accessible by funicular - is an oasis of refinement. Anderson chooses to evoke the war indirectly, in the same way that he approached New York City in The Royal Tenenbaums.) (This conflict is never spelled out as World War II. The main storyline is set in the 1930s in a fictional Central European country called Zubrowka that is hemmed in by an approaching war. Inspired by the writings of Stefan Zweig and his nostalgic depiction of early 20th century Vienna, the film proceeds through a series of nested narratives. The Grand Budapest Hotel is a remarkable film about place, memory, and how the values of a lost era can live on through architecture. Image: National Geographic The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) The exterior of the Grand Budapest Hotel is quite clearly a miniature model. The only cheat was with their kitchen, which was in the house next door, because this place had no windows - it was not going to work. “At the time I was very adamant that this would be a real place and that we have to make it a real place,” Wes Anderson explained to Matt Zoller Seitz in Seitz’s magnificent coffee table book, The Wes Anderson Collection. Most scenes in The Royal Tenenbaums were shot in or around the “house on Archer Avenue,” a magnificent Victorian Brownstone that is really located near Convent Avenue and 144th Street in Harlem. An idiosyncratic priority, for sure, but one that makes the movie uniquely evocative. Anderson responded that he wanted to clearly invoke New York without the viewer, at any point, knowing exactly where they were. Gene Hackman, who plays the charmingly roguish title character, was confused by this, according to Anderson’s former assistant Will Sweeney, asking why they were even there if not to film the Statue of Liberty. In one scene filmed in Battery Park, Anderson carefully positioned actor Kumar Pallana in front of the Statue of Liberty so the monument wouldn’t show up in the shot. Landmarks, however, are decidedly absent from Anderson’s New York. Wes Anderson did not want any recognizable landmarks to appear in his storybook version of New York. Kumar Pallana blocks the Statue of Liberty in one scene shot in Battery Park.
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