Undead Scribe

The Grand Budapest Hotel: Analyzing the Use of Thematic Design, Music and Imagery

A product of the famed director Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel is an acclaimed film in its own right, one that has its feet planted directly in the opposing genres of tragedy and comedy (Anderson). The film itself is centered around the titular hotel, taking the viewer on a journey that moves through several time periods as it explores the events surrounding the hotel from its heyday all the way down to its eventual nadir, or lowest point. The film begins with a young lady standing in front of an author’s grave as she reads a specific novel that he wrote, one bearing the same name as the film itself.

In this opening, the tone of the film is immediately broadcasted to the viewer as the author himself narrates a visit that he took to the titular hotel in 1968, the building now dilapidated and long past its prime, and a meeting that he had with the current owner of the hotel, a man known only as Zero. It is here that the film takes a slight turn, beginning another story within the first as Zero takes over the reins of the narrative, all in the purpose of introducing how he became the owner of the hotel. This is where a strong theme of nostalgia seems to first manifest in the writing and general direction of the film.

As the film progresses, the narrative structure seems to draw heavily on this sort of nostalgia to give meaning to the story itself as the characters and events of the film make clear (Howard). Historical references, flashbacks, and a continuous sense of travelling backwards in time to when the hotel was in its prime and things seemed livelier seem to pervade most of the events in the film (Howard), specifically in the way many events are framed that you view the character’s own nostalgia as form of escapism from harsh reality. That story about his adventures as a young man is the only thing the older Zero has left in his life and as such, he kept the hotel, despite its condition, just because he likes to remember the one time that he can recall being happy. To drive this simple point of nostalgia as escapism home even further, think of the fact that as the viewer, you are watching a film, one of the greatest forms of escapism, about a girl reading a book about an author telling a story about being told a story by another man about his long-gone youth and the adventures therein.

Further on this, Anderson makes apt use of his own signature stylization to inject depth to the story and events of the film. As mentioned above, the entire film is itself a story being told by an older Zero. As such, the events take place from his own subjective perspective are often tinged with his own emotional connections, Wes Anderson using narrative editing and specific use of a montage instead of a simple time skip tinged with Zero’s narration to make sure this comes across to the audience (Leeds).

The cinematography is undoubtedly the work of Anderson, the director having a great love for symmetry in his shots. Throughout the film, elements are consistently organized in the frame so that the most important subject is perfectly in the middle, leading to an easily identifiable visual style that remains one of Anderson’s signifiers. It’s an attention to detail that many rarely notice but once you do, it’s almost impossible to ignore because of how striking a shot it creates; undoubtedly staged and lacking the dynamism of other styles, but yet, it still manages to pull you in with the framing and style itself (Leeds).

Frankly, the musical score and sound design are characters unto themselves, every note designed to make you feel the fanciful and artful tone of the world on the screen. As the film takes place in Zubrowska, a fictional country located somewhere in Central Europe, the composer, one Alexandre Desplat, combined Gregorian chanting, balalaikas and a musical instrument known as the cimbalom to create the tone of cultural folk music simply to signify that country alone (Blair).

Not stopping there, Desplat made sure to create a musical theme for every single character that is important to the story, giving the film an almost cartoonish feel simply through music alone. With the authentic Central European music and instruments, along with the themes created for each character (Blair), Desplat and Anderson manage to make the fictional country and each individual character feel more real to the viewer, adding a depth to their characterization that couldn’t be achieved with simple words. Through all these methods, Anderson injects life and quirkiness into this film like many others, making you feel for the characters as people despite their larger-than-life adventures and personalities.

Bibliography

Blair, Elizabeth. "Composing The Folk Music Of A Made-Up Country." 19 February 2015. National Public Radio-Music. Document. 17 November 2018.

Howard, Edward. The Tools of Screenwriting: A Writer's Guide to the Craft. St. Martin's Griffin, 1994. Document.

Leeds, David. "Beauty at a Distance: Cinematic Techniques of “The Grand Budapest Hotel”." 18 August 2017. Medium. Document. 2017 November 2018.

The Grand Budapest Hotel. Dir. Wes Anderson. Perf. Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Jeff Goldblum, Saoirse Ronan, Willem Dafoe, Adrien Brody Ralph Fiennes. 2014. Digital.