Alexandre Desplat's Contribution to Wes Anderson's "Grand Budapest Hotel"
Before I say anything here, I must acknowledge that The Royal Tenenbaums is my favorite movie of all time. Critics perhaps astutely point out that it's not the most profound film, and a few characters come off as caricatures (though the cast would likely disagree), but it's home to me. There are lines from Tenenbaums that etched themselves in my brain at age twelve (I can't believe I was that young when I first saw this) only to really resonate when I grew a bit older. My favorite of which:
ROYAL: Look, I know I'm going to be the bad guy on this one, but I just want to say the last six days have been the best six days of probably my whole life.
NARRATOR: Immediately after making this statement, Royal realized that it was true.
How funny it is that none of us are lucky enough to have a third-person omniscient tap us on the shoulder and whisper into our ear, "This is going to be one of the best times in your life." How unfortunate it is that no one is there to warn us of the opposite.
Grand Budapest had so much of what I loved about Tenenbaums, and, though delightfully Anderson in its motifs, was certainly not superficial in its takeaways. I will spoil nothing. Moustafa and Gustave, of course, are a reimagining of Royal and Pagoda. But, this time, the friendship we wanted to explore more over ten years ago is the center of the film.
Now, there was another echo that I did find quite odd, to our right:*
*Other tracks that are very Tenenbaums:
One of these is much like the other. Both of these... both belong...?
Given my love for Anderson, I'm obviously fine with an artist referencing his/her earlier work. But it was Mark Mothersbaugh, not Desplat, who composed for Tenenbaums.
Since The Darjeeling Limited, Anderson has chosen to work with Desplat. I am sure it's difficult for an artist like Anderson, considering his distinctive vision, to part ways with a composer, especially considering how instrumental (ugh no pun intended!) music is to his films. So, I'm understanding of how it's a little weird that his instrumentation and certain choices might remain in-tact while he figures out who his musical soul mate is. But the above material was curious to me.
I also don't want to accuse Desplat of anything because, frankly, I have no idea what the process of composing this or Tenenbaums was. It could be the case that Mothersbaugh and Desplat were both executing Anderson's vision and, therefore, this isn't really plagiarism. Who knows why Mothersbaugh and Anderson aren't working together now in the first place? More importantly, there is plenty in this soundtrack that is novel. The first track listed here demonstrates Desplat's new musical ground.
Raising questions without answers is my favorite thing to do on Friday afternoons.
Call any musical self-references what you want, the take-away here is that films that give voice to distinctive but enjoyable scores are certainly more rare than they ought to be. The film is great ride from nearly every perspective: the plot is interesting (it twists, it turns), the characters are full, and it only takes about fifteen minutes to become completely enraptured in the world within a world within a world we are presented with. Getting to relive a part of my childhood through music, visually, and in the dialogue here, of course, was very special.
Over the past thirteen-or-so years that I've really watched Anderson, I've been surprised that his shots have not become less "whimsical;" in fact, Anderson has only added to his wheelhouse in that regard. I found every shot of Grand Budapest stunning, and for the first time in many months, know that I'll need to watch the film again to catch all of his easter eggs.
Don't you wish you had a Mendl's nearby?