Cinema fans be reassured, The French Dispatch finds Wes Anderson in good form and is a joy from start to finish...
Director: Wes Anderson
Starring: Benicio del Toro, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton
Running time: 103 minutes
Wes Anderson’s tenth film, The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun had its UK premiere at the London Film Festival and the expectation was high for many fans of his work, including this reviewer.
Structurally, the film takes the format of the French Dispatch, a fictional newspaper under the editorial stewardship of one Arthur Howitzer Jr, played by the excellent Bill Murray. Howitzer leads a team of journalists including Sazerac (Owen Wilson), J.K.L Berensen (Tilda Swinton), Lucinda Krementz (Frances McDormand) and Roebuck Wright (Jeffrey Wright).
In essence, the film is a series of “mini-films” or scenes taken from each section of the newspaper, narrated in turn by a journalist from the paper. Yet the film really kicks into gear when we reach the so-called “feature articles” which contain the most memorable scenes in the film.
First up, Berensen narrates via a lecture the exploits of Moses Rosenthaler, an incarcerated artist played superbly by Benicio Del Toro and his muse, Simone, who is played by Léa Seydoux. Léa’s paintings are wanted by Julien Cadazio, played by a veteran of Anderson’s films, Adrien Brody. This scene was my personal favourite as the concept of the “tortured artist” has been done so many times yet Anderson still manages to mine some excellent comedic moments.
The unusual format works extremely well, as the viewer is essentially treated to a series of “mini-films” that follow on from one another
Following Berensen, we have Lucinda Krementz, who gets caught up in the revolutionary fervour of Timothée Chalamet’s Zeffirelli, a student radical and his girlfriend Juliette, played by newcomer Lyna Khoudri. Finally, we have the fine police dining chef extraordinaire that is Lt. Nescaffier played by Steven Park and witnessed by Roebuck Wright. This unusual format works extremely well, as the viewer is essentially treated to a series of “mini-films” that follow on from one another.
The inspiration for the fictional French Dispatch was The New Yorker, a magazine that Anderson is a fan of. Also, many of the journalists in the film were based on or inspired by many of the journalists that have written for The New Yorker over the years including Joseph Mitchell, Mavis Gallant and James Baldwin.
Of course, any Wes Anderson film wouldn’t be a Wes Anderson film without some of his hallmark techniques such as his quirky and off-beat humour, voiceover narration and excellent montage sequences – all of which are on full display in this film. Anderson also pushes into new grounds here with a full comic book animated section in the Roebuck Wright scene.
Critics will no doubt say that Anderson’s style may have become cliched or repetitive, but in the era of superhero films and franchise movies, is it such a bad thing to have a truly distinctive filmmaker that continues to make film after film?
Did you know? The French Dispatch newspaper is set in the fictional French town of Ennui-sur-Blasé which literally translates as Boredom-on-Blasé.
The French Dispatch is in cinemas from Thursday 21 October
We have a favour to ask
LeftLion is Nottingham’s meeting point for information about what’s going on in our city, from the established organisations to the grassroots. We want to keep what we do free to all to access, but increasingly we are relying on revenue from our readers to continue. Can you spare a few quid each month to support us?
