Film Review: The French Dispatch (2021)

The French Dispatch

Indian Paintbrush/American Empirical Pictures

Searchlight Pictures

Release date: 10/22/2021

Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch Releases on Digital December 14 and Blu-ray™ and DVD on December 28, 2021

My Rating: 7/10 

#whatonwhatsgood Fan Club Rating: 73%

Express Review

The movie is an about American newspaper operating out of a fictional small town in France called Ennui-Sur-Blasé.  

The writers of the magazine 'The French Dispatch' are planning to publish the final issue of the magazine. Arthur Howitzer Jr. (Bill Murray), the editor of a magazine is deceased. 

The magazine discusses art, literature, sex, politics, food, and cinema. 

The movie is made up of multiple short films.  

[TRAVEL SECTION]

The first story begins with Herbsaint Sazerac (Owen Wilson) on a bike discussing the history of the city. 

[FEATURE STORY]

The Concrete Masterpiece is about a convicted murderer Moses Rosenthaler (Benicio Del Toro) who has an affair with the prison guard Simone (Léa Seydoux). Moses's artistic talents are discovered by an art dealer Julian Cadazio (Adrien Brody).  

The story was told by art critic J. K. L. Berensen (Tilda Swinton).

[FEATURE STORY]

Revisions to a Manifesto by essayist Lucinda Krementz (Frances McDormand). She is revising the manifesto of Zeffirelli (Timothée Chalamet).

[FEATURE STORY]

The Private Dining Room of the Police Commissioner is by food critic Roebuck Wright (Jeffrey Wright).  He is being interviewed on TV by a talk show host (Liev Schreiber). 

The film was definitely different.  It was filmed in both color and black and white. There was even some animation.  Wes Anderson's "French Dispatch" is worth a watch but I must say I really liked "The Grand Budapest Hotel" (2014) even more.

Social Media

#TheFrenchDispatch #WesAnderson #Searchlight

Directed by

Wes Anderson

Screenplay by

Wes Anderson

Story by

Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola, Hugo Guinness, Jason Schwartzman

Produced by

Wes Anderson, Jeremy Dawson, Steven Rales

Executive Producers

Roman Coppola, Henning Molfenter, Christoph Fisser and Charlie Woebcken

Starring

Benicio Del Toro as Moses Rosenthaler

Adrien Brody as Julian Cadazio

Tilda Swinton as J.K.L. Berensen

Léa Seydoux as Simone

Frances McDormand as Lucina Krementz

Timothée Chalamet as Zeffirelli

Lyna Khoudri as Juliette

Jeffrey Wright as Roebuck Wright

Mathieu Amalric as The Comissaire

Stephen Park as Nescaffier (as Stephen Park)

Bill Murray as Arthur Howitzer, Jr.

Owen Wilson as Herbsaint Sazerac

Christoph Waltz as Paul Duval

Edward Norton as The Chauffeur

Jason Schwartzman as Hermès Jones

Anjelica Huston as Narrator (voice)

Production Notes 11/9/2021

Léa Seydoux who plays Simone discusses working with Director Wes Anderson

“As an actor, I found that there’s a specific pace that you have to learn and understand when you work with Wes. And he is tireless and extremely attentive to the finest details, He will do a scene over and over until he gets the smallest nuance that makes the difference, and always with great humor!”

Timothée Chalamet who plays Zeffirelli discusses working with Director Wes Anderson 

“It’s an extremely well-oiled machine” 

“Nothing is wasted, every screw and every wire function, and everyone is working together, from Sanjay to Bob Yeoman to Milena to Adam Stockhausen and their teams. And, of course, Wes, who is always inspiring—it’s a little daunting, his captain hood because the atmosphere is a kind of communal Bohemian circus, but absolutely everything runs like clockwork—everyone is united behind Wes’ vision and everyone contributes to making it happen.”

“There was one shot that lasted about 4 seconds, where I pinned a piece of paper to a wall and walked to a jukebox. I think we did 45 takes. At a certain point, I thought: ‘Really?’ But I got it. Those moments are inspiring because he’s pushing himself, he’s chasing something extremely refined, and what to me seemed random at the time was to him the finest edges of something very deeply thought out. If generality is the enemy of art, then Wes deserves a statue.”

Stephen Park who plays Nescaffier describes working with Director Wes Anderson

“Working with Wes felt more like playing. He’s very open and collaborative, and he’s also extremely specific about everything, which I love. Every member of his crew was incredible, and they all knew each other well so everything was very fluid and easy.”

Lyna Khoudri who plays Juliette describes life on set with Director Wes Anderson

“If I could find a way to describe life on Wes' set. I remember it as a mix of ‘abstract’ and ‘concrete.’ It's colorful, it's like a children's playground, it's concentration, it's joy, it's intelligence, it's full of love, it's like being at home but it's work.”

Bob Balaban who plays Uncle Nick discusses working with Wes Anderson

“The first thing that impresses you about Wes is that his focus and his concentration is unflappable. He’s like a laser beam, and it helps bring everyone on the set and around the set instantly into the same kind of quiet. He’s focused, he’s kind, he’s patient, and he is unbelievably persistent at getting exactly what he wants without pushing too hard—he’s a gentle force of nature. In some of the scenes where there are multiple characters and only one shot, and the camera is moving and the characters are moving, you might end up doing maybe thirty or forty takes where everybody has to be doing the right thing physically, emotionally, and otherwise because there are no cuts. And because he’s such a brilliant communicator, he’ll find different ways of communicating with you to get you doing the thing that he wants you to do. I’ve never worked with anybody who is so good at pushing me around and pushing the entire cast around without ever making them feel pushed—on the contrary, you feel like you’re in somebody’s painting, and you want to fulfill his idea, his dream.”

Jeffrey Wright who plays Roebuck Wright the relationship between actor and director

“The relationship between actor and director is trust. Without it? Chaos. Wes is incredibly driven and relentless in his pursuit of the film that he imagines in his head. It’s really wonderful, because off-screen he’s somewhat reserved, somewhat hesitant, kind of self-effacing in a genuine way, and then there’s a dash of shyness thrown in. But when he gets onto a film set? He’s like one of the generals that landed at Normandy. He is so unbelievably clear and tireless and driving and exacting and demanding in the best way, and that’s what you want because at the end of the day a director’s role is many things but it is primarily about leadership and he is a wonderful leader.”