The Grand Budapest Hotel: A coming of age tale disguised in a visual masterpiece.

 


In the very beginning of The Grand Budapest Hotel, there are three flashbacks which lead up to the main storyline. The first scene takes place in a cemetery during present day where the viewer sees a statue of an author who, it soon becomes evident, is the author of a book title “The Grand Budapest Hotel”. The first flashback then transports the viewer to 1985 where this same author is now alive and discussing the story which is about to take place. The second flashback goes to 1968 where a younger version of this author is now in The Grand Budapest Hotel and meets the owner of the hotel: Zero. Up until this point, the story is being narrated by the author, who remains unnamed, but now Zero takes over and begins to tell the story of The Grand Budapest Hotel. This is when the third and final flashback takes place to 1932. The viewer is now introduced to M. Gustave and a young Zero. Zero becomes Gustave’s pupil and Gustave begins to teach him the ins and outs of hotel management.

Over the course of this story, which is most famous for its beautiful symmetry and color palette, we see Zero transition from struggling refugee to the richest man in the nation. However, money is not the most important thing he gains along his journey. Namely, knowledge, friendship and love all shape him into the kind and humble older gentleman we see at the end of the movie. While this film got most of plaudits for looking beautiful, the beauty of its plot is often overlooked.





Comments

  1. Isabel DennisonFebruary 10, 2021 at 10:42 AM

    I absolutely love this movie, and I'm so glad you did your analysis on it. You did mention the praise this movie got for its beautiful atmosphere, and while that is my favorite aspect of the movie, you picking up on the coming of age subtext is making me want to rewatch it to witness Zero's growth arc. I think I never realized this was a coming-of-age movie because I always thought Gustave was the main character so I never looked for character development anywhere else.

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  2. Katya S.February 14, 2021 at 5:05 PM

    I've never watched this movie, and obviously this is a really short analysis/summary of it. It seems interesting, and I could definitely see how learning to manage a hotel and then ultimately gaining money could lead to someone having to come of age. Going from having very little money to a lot of it is bound to have its challenges.

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  3. Aryan LalwaniFebruary 15, 2021 at 10:22 AM

    I love the Grand Budapest Hotel! The combination of comedy, great sets, and an interesting story make it a truly amazing movie. The multiple long flashbacks are a relatively uncommon trope and I would be interested to read/watch another book/movie that uses a similar structure.

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