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 #179 | 4 wins & 3 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 | concierge | lobby boy | writer | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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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

Tilda Swinton spent hours in the makeup chair to play 84-year-old dowager Madame D. "We're not usually working with a vast, Bruckheimer-type budget on my films, so often we're trying a work-around," said Wes Anderson. "But for the old-age makeup I just said, 'Let's get the most expensive people we can.'"

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Goofs

When Jopling throws the companion Persian cat of Deputy Kovacs from a second floor window, the chances of the cat walking away unscathed (or with only minor injuries) from its landing tend strongly towards 100%. In what urban veterinarians have characterized as Feline High-Rise Syndrome, cats are now known to orient themselves four-paws-downwards within the first metre of falling (using their feline righting reflex), to spread out their legs mid-fall to maximize aerodynamic drag and thereby minimize falling velocity, and to arch their flexible spines just before landing, the better to absorb and harmlessly dissipate their kinetic energy on landing through muscles and skeletal joints.

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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

Featured in Late Night with Seth Meyers: Ralph Fiennes/Allison Williams/Mike Birbiglia (2014)

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Soundtracks

The Linden Tree
Written by Pavel Vasilevich Kulikov
Performed by Osipov State Russian Folk Orchestra, Vitaly Gnutov
Courtesy of Natalya Abramyan and National Music Publishers
Courtesy of Universal International Music B.V. Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

A brilliantly entertaining fantasy outing by Wes Anderson

The Grand Budapest Hotel is the latest from Wes Anderson, and what great fun it is. My review of Monuments Men pointed out that putting the likes of George Clooney, Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett, Jean Dujardin, Bill Murray and Hugh Bonneville in the same film was no guarantee of a good film. Following that logic, what should we make of the following turning up together: Ralph Fiennes, Bill Murray, F. Murray Abraham, Adrien Brody, Willem Defoe, Jeff Goldblum, Jude Law, Edward Norton, Tom Wilkinson, Saoirse Ronan, Owen Wilson and (a wonderfully made up) Tilda Swinton? The answer is a near masterpiece of cameos that add up to a highly entertaining and memorable film.

In a complex serious of flashbacks, Tom Wilkinson plays an author remembering his younger self (Jude Law) being recounted, a number of years before, the life story of The Grand Budapest's mysterious elderly guest Zero Moustafa, played by Abraham. (Are you still with me?) Featuring strongly in this life story, Ralph Fiennes plays hotel concierge and lothario Gustave H., seducer of his elderly and wealthy guests. He is supported in this role – for everything outside the bedroom that is – by trainee Bellboy, and Gustave's protégé, Zero (in the younger form of Tony Revolori).

Following the murder of one such guest (Tilda Swinton), Gustave is not surprised to feature strongly in her will, awarded a priceless Renaissance painting – Boy with Apple. This is much to the displeasure of her son Dimitri (Adrien Brody) and his evil henchman Jopling (Willem Defoe). What follows is a madcap pursuit across snowy landscapes, various grisly murders, a couple of civil wars, some disconnected fingers, a prison break and a downhill ski chase.

All the cast seem to enjoy themselves immensely, but it is the production design and cinematography that really shines through: every single shot of the film is just a joy to look at, from the bright pastel colours of some scenes to the oak-panelled finery of the elderly lady's mansion. Beautifully crafted, beautifully lit,beautifully costumed, beautifully filmed. Bringing a film out so early in the new Oscar-year must be risky: but one can only hope that the voting members have a long enough memory to recognise this movie in these sorts of categories.

There are some interesting crossovers to recent films: both 'The Book Thief' and 'The Monuments Men' were filmed – as this was – in Studio Babelsberg in Potsdam. No coincidence then that the steam train chugging through the East European countryside looked startlingly similar to that in the opening scenes of 'The Book Thief'; and if you have Bill Murray and Bob Balaban in town for Monuments Men, then why not stick them together for this film too? Simples! Alexandre Desplat turns up AGAIN with another quirky and fitting score.

All in all, if you like the quirky style of films of the likes of Moulin Rouge then you'll love this. Highly recommended.

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