The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

The adventures of Gustave H, a legendary concierge at a famous hotel from the fictional Republic of Zubrowka between the first and second World Wars, and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend.

Director:

Wes Anderson

Writers:

Stefan Zweig (inspired by the writings of), Wes Anderson (screenplay),

Stars:

Ralph Fiennes, F. Murray Abraham, Mathieu Amalric

Top 250 #182 | Nominated for 4 Golden Globes. Another 43 wins & 73 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ralph Fiennes	...	M. Gustave
F. Murray Abraham	...	Mr. Moustafa
Mathieu Amalric	...	Serge X.
Adrien Brody	...	Dmitri
Willem Dafoe	...	Jopling
Jeff Goldblum	...	Deputy Kovacs
Harvey Keitel	...	Ludwig
Jude Law	...	Young Writer
Bill Murray	...	M. Ivan
Edward Norton	...	Henckels
Saoirse Ronan	...	Agatha
Jason Schwartzman	...	M. Jean
Léa Seydoux	...	Clotilde
Tilda Swinton	...	Madame D.
Tom Wilkinson	...	Author

Storyline

GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL recounts the adventures of Gustave H, a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel between the wars, and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend. The story involves the theft and recovery of a priceless Renaissance painting and the battle for an enormous family fortune -- all against the back-drop of a suddenly and dramatically changing Continent.

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Plot Keywords:

hotel | painting | mentor protege relationship | pastry shop | luxury hotel | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

14A

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA Germany UK

Language:

English French

Release Date:

6 March 2014 (Germany)

Also Known As:

El gran hotel Budapest

Filming Locations:

Görlitz, Saxony, Germany

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$811,166 (USA) (7 March 2014)

Gross:

$59,073,773 (USA) (22 August 2014)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Scott Rudin Productions, Indian Paintbrush, Studio Babelsberg

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Datasat Dolby Digital

Color:

Color Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Zubrowka is a famous Polish rye vodka, renowned in central Europe.

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Goofs

Serge X wraps "Boy With Apple" in brown paper and slips an envelope in the back of the painting. This envelope presumably stays in the same place until the end of the movie. However, during the train scene when M. Gustave and Zero make their blood pact, M. Gustave hangs the painting on the wall of the train car for viewing. If he really did that, he would have discovered the envelope, or it would have fallen out while unwrapping the painting.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Author: It is an extremely common mistake. People think the writer's imagination is always at work, that he's constantly inventing an endless supply of incidents and episodes; that he simply dreams up his stories out of thin air. In point of fact, the opposite is true. Once the public knows you're a writer, they bring the characters and events to you. And as long as you maintain your ability to look, and to carefully listen, these stories will continue to...
Author's Grandson: [...]

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Crazy Credits

[lines are centered] Introducing Tony Revolori Zero

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Connections

References A New Leaf (1971)

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Soundtracks

s'Rothe-Zäuerli
Written by Ruedi Roth and Werner Roth
Performed by Öse Schuppel
Published by myMusicRights Publishing / Holyschnikee Publishing
Courtesy of PM Music in accordance with Phono-Vertriebs GmbH

User Reviews

"There are still faint glimmers of civilization left in this barbaric slaughterhouse that was once known as humanity... He was one of them. "

Wes Anderson is one of the last directors -auteurs- who's got complete control on the film set and has the power to make whatever kind of film he desires. His distinct visual style is apparent since his 1996 debut Bottle Rcoket. But that was just a start, with every film he made he was perfecting his technique more and more. This marvelous attention to detail, the way he composes his shots( tracking shots, the symmetry, the characters running in slow-motion), chase scenes, love story, nostalgia, explanatory montages, the colourful set design and the prevalent theme of every one of his films: family. This all adds up to the reason why the audience enjoys Anderson's film so much. This all is brought to perfection in Grandhotel Budapest.

Through complex narrative framework, which itself is a mockery of all these films that are being narrated by someone and is also being an excuse for not being too realistic, we get to a story of a young lobby boy named Zero Moustafa and Gustave H. (Ralph Fiennes)the concierge of the Grandhotel Budapest. Many of the female guests of the hotel mainly come to enjoy Gustave's company. When one of these ladies passes away, Gustave grabs Zero and boards a train for her mansion. Soon he's blamed for her murder and hunted by police led by Edward Norton and a grim-faced assassin played by Willem Dafoe. There also is a love story between two young teens - Zero and Agatha (Saoirse Ronan) who has a birthmark in the shape of Mexico.

I frankly don't understand how can this film be successful in the USA. This film is just so typically European, that I guess some aspects of the film Americans just aren't familiar with. Some of the humor reminded of old French, Italian and Czech comedies.

Wes Anderson remains to be a stand-out filmmaker who never disappoints with any of his creations and is a safe bet to rely on his qualities. You won't want to return to the real world when the credits start to roll.