The Grand Budapest Hotel first strikes you with it’s stunning visuals and use of color.
The camera uses a lot of center framed shots with intentionality and thoughtfulness. It's never just about the main subject in the center of the frame, everything around it contributes to the entire composition of the frame.
The Grand Budapest hotel isn’t serious, it’s light and cheeky, with a quirky sophistication that makes fun of itself.
The lighting in the film is not always a focal point, but when it is, it’s theatrical - it’s exaggerated and shifts mid scene in front of the viewers eye. The lighting is only like this when a character is displaying strong motions.
It’s fast passed in its dialogue and story with almost no transitions from new ideas from its characters, or plots in it’s story. The viewer is given no time to try and guess what’s going to happen, but instead is taken along for a color, power walk through the film.
The movie takes place in two time periods, the 1930s and 1960s. This time jump is shown through narration and with color.
Scenes in the 1930s are pink and cool toned for the majority of it, while scenes in the 60s are orange and warm toned.
The movie cuts between past, the main story line, and the present, the narrator telling his story.
Even though the overall tone is comedic, there is a heart felt thoughtfulness that plays out at the end of the film.
When it comes to light, through narration, that a few of the central characters (all of the main characters' loved ones) die, it's briefly touched upon at the end. But through the actors portrayal in the scene, you feel the weight, and the old, familiar sadness of their memories through the main character.
The film follows the story of a young, refugee, lobby boy, Zero, working under the guidance of an influential concierge, Mr. Gustav, at the Grand Budapest Hotel. The story is told in the future, by a writer who met Zero in the Grand Budapest Hotel. The hotel is no longer what it once was, once bustling and extravagant, it is now quiet, modernized and slightly run down. Zero is now the owner of the hotel and even though it is no longer making money, he won't sell it. When the writer asks him why, Zero invites him to dinner and tells him his life story. It starts with Zero first working at the hotel with Mr. Gustav and learning the ins and outs of being a lobby boy. Zero quickly learns that Mr. Gustav is incredibly popular with all the older wealthy women staying at the hotel. Mr. Gustav is friends with benefits with all of them. One particular older women is murdered and leaves Mr. Gustav a valuable renaissance painting called "Boy with Apple". The older women's children are enraged and accuse Mr. Gustav of murdering her. Mr. Gustav hides the painting with Zero in a safe at the hotel. He is then arrested for the murder and goes to jail. While in jail he hashes out an escape plan with several other inmates. With the help of Zero and Zero's love interest Agatha, a baker, Agatha bakes pastries for the prisoners with digging tools hidden inside them. Mr. Gustav escapes and meets up with Zero to try and get the painting. They go into the hotel which is now occupied by a fascist regime led by the older woman's son. While stealing the painting they encounter the son and a shoot out occurs. Once they retrieve the painting they find the older women's final will hidden in the back of the painting. The older women left everything to Gustav, and to everyone's surprises she also owned The Grand Budapest Hotel and let that to him as well. It turns out the son murdered his mother to get her fortune.
Mr. Gustav, Zero and Agatha are on a train in one of the final scenes and are stopped by the fascist regime. The officers ask them for their papers and they don't believe Zero's is authentic. Mr. Gustav, in his attempt to protect Zero from the officers, is shot (though you do not see this in film, it is only told through narration). Mr. Gustav leaves everything to Zero and Agatha. Through narration Zero tells us that him and Agatha went on to get married and had a son, but Agatha and the son died due to illness. It comes to light that Zero keeps the hotel open, not for Mr. Gustav, but for Agatha, and to keep her memory alive.
5 WORDS: quirky aesthetic colorful cheeky beautiful
THESIS STATEMENT: The Grand Budapest Hotel is about writer who meets the owner of an aging hotel who tells him the story of how he started working as a lobby boy under the guidance of Mr. Gustav, a famous concierge. Mr Gustav is framed for murder and the story follows the lobby boys quest for the truth, love and a priceless renaissance painting.
Shades of pink, orange and yellow. Vintage and decorative. Handmade and worn. Colorful but desaturated. Intricate but balanced.
