[Movie] Welcome to 'The Grand Budapest Hotel'
Grand Budapest Hotel is a fictional hotel, in a fictional country, called Republic of Zubrowka in Central Europe. Everyone there speaks in English, French, and German.
It was a beautiful country, and the hotel was noted for its high standard of services. Fictionally speaking, of course. Starred in this film were Ralph Fiennes, Tony Revolori, Saoirse Ronan, Jeff Goldblum, Tilda Swinton, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, and many more.
As you expected, the story revolved around the fictional hotel. A hotel that was once glorious now only a shadow of its former glory. The plot was divided into 7 parts, including prologue and epilogue. And the plot was told in a story within a story, a frame story, if you will. It began with the Author (Tom Wilkinson), in his old age, retelling his experience when he first met with the hotel's owner. Zero Moustapha (F.Murray Abraham) was his name, and the young Author (Jude Law) had their dinner together where Zero began his tale how he acquired the hotel.
So Lord Volde- I mean Monsieur Gustave, took Zero (Tony Revolori) in as his pupil and disciple, teaching him everything about the hotel's inner working and the art of etiquette.
The film was quite amazing with the way it told its story without any elaborate or fancy computer generated imagery and what not. The hotel itself, when shown in full size, was actually a model with a painted background. But in its simplicity, lies a complex web of dark intentions, looming dooms, and exquisite deceit. With a healthy dose of fun and humor, of course.
Monsieur Gustave was involved with many women. Old, rich, and feeble-minded women. One in particular was Madame Celine Villeneuve Desgoffe und Taxis (Tilda Swinton), or simply called Madame D. She passed away unexpectedly, though she was really old, like 84 years old, so its not like she would not croaked anytime later anyway.
With her passing, Monsieur Gustave went to her funeral to pay his respect to the deceased, and also was hoping that Madame D would leave him something. Which she totally did. She willed it that Monsieur Gustave would receive a priceless painting called 'Boy with Apple'. This shocked everyone including Madame D's children, and her executor of the will, Deputy Vilmos Kovacs (Jeff Goldblum), although at that point everyone already knew that Monsieur Gustave is quite a swinger and a ladies man.
And Monsieur Gustave was pinned under the charge of murdering Madame D. This complicated things even more as Madame D actually had another will in the event that her death was caused by murder instead of a natural death.
Deputy Vilmos informed Madame D's children, particularly her son, Dmitri Desgoffe und Taxis (Adrien Brody), regarding the matter. To silence Deputy Vilmos, Dmitri ordered his henchman, Jopling (Willem Dafoe), to urmm.. murder him. It was also revealed that Jopling was also the same murderer that killed Madame D as it was shown the exact poison that was used on Madame D.
In the mean time, Monsieur Gustave escaped from the prison with the help of his inmates, Zero, and Zero's soon-to-be wife, Agatha (Saoirse Ronan). After escaping, well, in pursuit by the authority, Monsieur Gustave and Zero went looking for Madame D's butler, Serge X (Mathieu Amalric), because apparently he was the key witness to the murder case. So only he can clear Monsieur Gustave's name. Of course Dmitri and Jopling already knew this, and were feverishly looking for that man.
Monsieur Gustave found him using his connection with The Society of the Crossed Keys. At the same time, Jopling also picked up Serge X's location by killing his club-footed sister. So they all went to Gabelmeister's Peak. Jopling managed to kill Serge, but Zero pushed him off the cliff to his death while he was trying to kill Monsieur Gustave.
So how did things end? I mean, that was quite a story for a simple question. The Author only wanted to know how did Zero Moustapha acquired the hotel. Well, turns out, Madame D made a second will that bequeathed all of her property to Monsieur Gustave, in an event that she got murdered. And one of her property was the Grand Budapest Hotel. Monsieur Gustave also had made Zero as his sole heir when they took the 'Boy with Apple' painting, because he had no one else, and Zero was quite a loyal companion.
The ending was a sad one. Zubrowka was occupied during the war, Monsieur Gustave was killed while defending Zero in their attempt of fleeing the worst of the war, so all of his wealth goes to Zero. But then Zero's beloved wife, Agatha, died along with their infant child to the Prussian Grippe. In the end, the hotel was the only remaining link to all those colorful memories, along with the painting of 'Boy with Apple' hanging on the hotel's wall, collecting dust.
The Author ended his story with a regret of not being able to see the Grand Budapest hotel again afterward, that old enchanting ruin. Damn, if the hotel wasn't fictional, I would love to go there and see it for myself.
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| No cat was harmed in this production. |
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