Tuesday 25 March 2014

The Grand Budapest Hotel extended thoughts

Here I attempt to interpret The Grand Budapest Hotel. Spoilers follow.
I have no idea what this film is an allegory for, if it's an allegory for anything at all. The Zig-Zag group has a blatant resemblance to the Nazi SS, which I found amusing, but I'm not sure if there's anything more to the group than just a low-key Nazi joke.

M. Gustave is described by older Zero as being merely an illusion. His curious tastes are certainly funny, but perhaps it relays some sort of hidden feelings from Gustave. The other thing to note with Gustave is that underneath all of his pomp is a humanity not possessed by many in the film. He is considerate, and the film shows him being very ashamed of the moments when he fails to be such.

Also interesting is the arc Zero goes through. We slowly learn more about the character as he develops, going from just a new lobby boy that Gustave decided to take under his wing to a confident presence that is proud of his relationship to the Hotel. This is shown noticeably when Zero reprimands the new lobby boy for revealing information to Gustave. Zero's relationship with Agatha is also compelling, and one amusing scene comes when they make out while sitting in a theatre, with Zero apparently taking off Agatha's shirt. Zero and Agatha make a pretty cute couple, and it's genuinely sad when Agatha and her unborn child die of a disease, which Zero comments is now easily treatable.

The relationship between Gustave and Zero grows over the course of the film, and by the end the two have clearly grown very close, as is apparent by Gustave willing Zero the hotel, and by Zero reminiscing so fondly of Gustave.

No comments:

Post a Comment