One of my favorite movies, The Grand Budapest Hotel, was released in 2014 and received international critical acclaim. The movie took home four Oscars for Best Achievement in Costume Design (Milena Canonero), Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling (Frances Hannon, Mark Coulier), Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures-Original Score (Alexandre Desplat), and Best Achievement in Production Design (Adam Stockhausen for production design and Anna Pinnock for set decoration). It was nominated for five more: Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Achievement in Directing, Best Achievement in Cinematography, Best Achievement in Film Editing, and Best Writing-Original Screenplay. From its premiere in 2014, the film won 134 awards from 2014-2020, where it won the Golden Derby Award for Production Design of the Decade. The one and only Wes Anderson directed The Grand Budapest Hotel. His films are distinctive in their visual and narrative style, using rich and contrasting color palettes to accentuate the actors' features and performances at any given point. The screenplay was written by Anderson, while the story was conceived by Anderson and his friend, Hugo Guinness. The story behind the Budapest Hotel was inspired by the life and work of Austrian author Stefan Zweig, especially his novel, Twenty-Four Hours in the Life of a Woman, his book, Beware of Pity, and his autobiography, The World of Yesterday. I believe it's a scam that the film is placed so low on the IMDb Top 250 with a measly score of 187.
Ralph Fiennes leads a seventeen-actor ensemble cast as the main character, Gustave H. The other actors include F. Murray Abraham, Mathieu Amalric, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Keitel, Jude Law, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Saoirse Ronan, Jason Schwartzman, Léa Seydoux, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson, Owen Wilson, and Tony Revolori. The film is set up in chapters, like a book. It follows the story of a writer who encounters the owner of an aging high-class hotel, who tells him of his early years serving as a lobby boy in the hotel's prime under an exceptional concierge. The movie is set in Eastern Germany. Principal photography took place at the Babelsberg Studio in suburban Berlin and in Görlitz, a mid-sized border town on the Lusatian Neisse on Germany's eastern frontier. The large sets were staged inside the Görlitzer Warenhaus atrium. Anderson considered purchasing the entire building to have more creative freedom. Suffice to say, they didn't. As a comedy/drama movie, the story exhibits many moments of irony throughout the film. At what times did this occur, and how does it affect the film's tone?
While there are commonly two types of irony, comedic movies often utilize situational irony overdramatic irony to give the audience the rush of surprise. It also serves as a more realistic type of comedy compared to the lavish and over-the-top comedy that Friends or Seinfeld might have. The first instance of situational comedy is with Moustafa. When the author arrives at the Grand Budapest, he learns that Mr. Moustafa, the richest man in the country and owner of the Grand Budapest, sleeps in a staff room at the back of the hotel. He later finds out that Moustafa sleeps in the same room he lived in as a powerless lobby boy. Moustafa willingly chooses to live in the past despite his wealth and power. Not only is it ironic because of its unexpectedness, but it's also later revealed that he inherited the hotel because Gustave died protecting him. Moustafa feels that he doesn't deserve his wealth and fame because of Gustave's sacrifice, thus reducing himself back to the powerlessness of the lobby boy. Another instance of situational irony is the newspaper headline early in the film. Zero grabs the newspapers and immediately runs to Gustave to show him the headline. The viewer's eyes are, obviously, drawn to the huge letters stating the stakes of the war. We assume that this made Zero gasp, but the camera tilts down moments later to reveal the smaller headline showing that Madame D died. The newspaper is ironic both cinematically and in its essence. Anderson purposely subverts the viewer's expectation by tilting from one headline to the other, and also because war is often more alarming than the death of a woman in her 80s.
Further on in the film, after Madame D's funeral, Gustave and D's family learn that she left a priceless (fictional) painting for Gustave: Boy With Apple. We're told that it's famous and by far the most valuable item in the entire estate. After being rejected from Madame D's funeral by her family, Gustave and Zero steal the painting off the wall where it hung. When they take it off the wall, Zero notices the blank space and replaces it with a painting that the movie deems unimportant. In reality, Two Women was made by the real-life painter Egon Schiele in 1915. Given Schiele's fame, it's worth a lot of money. Thus, there's an irony that Gustave and Zero don't recognize its importance and decide to only take Boy With Apple. This instance could also be considered dramatic irony. While a viewer knowledgeable in art history would instantly recognize the painting, Gustave and Zero are clueless and don't treat it with a second thought or particular care.
Lastly, Gustave is arrested and wrongly imprisoned for the murder of Madame D. Throughout the movie, we see Gustave's character play out in a multitude of ways, and the viewer can deduce the following: he is effeminate and bisexual. Two things that often don't do well in all-male prisons. However, when Zero comes to visit Gustave and sees that he's pretty roughed up, Zero gets worried. Gustave eases Zero's worries when he explains that he's proven himself in prison, has gotten into fights, and integrates with the violent surroundings. Thankfully, Gustave's aura remains unharmed, dainty as a flower, but he's now well-versed in prison slang. In this situation, there is an ironic tension between Gustave's generally gentle character, who can also hold his own stance with some violent criminals.
Irony is a powerful tool used in comedies. By using it, the viewers get a better sense of the characters' personalities, intentions, and cultural backgrounds. While there are two types of irony presented in The Grand Budapest Hotel, situational irony is more prevalent. Since the writers intended to leave the audience in the dark about most of the happenings in the movie, thus choosing not to include a great deal of dramatic irony. As you can see by the care I put into this essay, The Grand Budapest Hotel is one of my favorite movies of all time. Wes Anderson's style is also among my favorites, although I'm not a massive fan of him as a person. Given his attachment to Polanski (being one of 100 celebrities), he signed the petition in 2009 for Polanski's release from federal prison.
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