THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL (2014) - 10/9/2024

A love letter to a fading Europe

Grand Budapest is not my favorite Wes, nor is it in the Top 3. For some reason, this is the one that had the largest commercial appeal, was his biggest hit, and is the universally most beloved one of his films. To me though, it is his film that has the most endearing spirit of them all. It feels like the first one (maybe aside from Fantastic Mr. Fox) to truly slip away from the shackles he imposed himself on examining the family dynamic and just enjoying the story for what it is. Of course, there are elements in there when we address Zero’s history and how he came to be at the hotel, and that all important bond between concierge and lobby boy, but it is not the main point in this film. We are here to explore and pay homage to that of a lost Europe.

Upon this rewatch I felt a greater appreciation for the subject. When I first watched this film that popularized millennial pink, I just figured the color palettes were typical Wes whimsy. This man sees this world in such incredible colors that accent the dry and dark material he plays with at hand. I’m sure it’s all fantasy and nothing more. Low and behold, it is not.

Having been to both Budapest and Prague this past summer, I see and better understand the vision. While the film takes place in the fictional Eastern European country of Zubrowka, you can see where a lot of this inspiration is pulled from. All over Budapest you see these classical stone buildings with incredible shapes and bold and bright colors that drench you in happiness. In Prague, you can’t take a step without seeing beautiful homes and buildings with accented frames and windows all over Old Town or amongst the southern hills of Žižkov that aren’t adorned in these incredible pastels you wouldn’t see outside of Easter in America. It was hard for me to accept this reality, having an upbringing of American media and Cold War films that made the entire Eastern Bloc feel as if it had all become one gray, brutalist mess after the Russian communist regime swallowed it up. But that is not the case. 

So much of that European flair and charm has persisted in the nearly 100 years since the second World War, but also so much had been taken away, and that’s what this movie does get down to at its core. Visually we see the deterioration of the Budapest when it is visited in its 60s Cold War era as compared to the thirty years prior, with its vibrance and life. But that’s what happened to a lot of Europe in that span. One fascist regime came in and destroyed so much of what made these places special, as did another one shortly there after. And, sadly, it was more than just the metaphorical life of these gorgeous special places. Yet, through all of this, there is still some semblance of that previous life persisting today, and films like this which encourage us to not forget what was there.