10 Best Films of the Decade 2000’s #3 The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson, 2001): USA
Reviewed by Byron Potau. Viewed on DVD.
Continuing my countdown of the 10 best films of the decade, coming in at #3 is Wes Anderson’s quirky comedy The Royal Tenenbaums, where we are led through a fascinating fantasy New York to view the dynamics and dysfunction of the Tenenbaum family. Anderson touches on more serious themes than he had in previous films, but always through his unique style and humor that are quite unlike any other filmmaker.
After a particularly lyrical prelude which shows Royal’s separation from Ethel and his family, though they do not divorce, and details the brilliance of the young Tenenbaum children and the beginning of their downward curve, we pick up with them twenty two years later where their lives have stalled.
Royal (Gene Hackman) is broke and being kicked out of his hotel. Richie (Luke Wilson), retired from tennis at age 26, has been out on an ocean liner for several months trying to forget about his secret love for his adopted sister Margot. Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow) locks herself in the bathroom for several hours a day and is also cheating on her neurologist husband Raleigh St. Clair (Bill Murray) with Richie’s best friend Eli Cash. Eli (Owen Wilson) is enjoying a lot of success, but seems preoccupied with how people view him and has developed a drug problem. Chas (Ben Stiller) still has not recovered from his wife’s death, and is unreasonably preoccupied with his two sons, Ari and Uzi’s safety, running them through fire drills in the middle of the night.
Their mother, Ethel (Anjelica Huston), receives a marriage proposal from her accountant, Henry Sherman (Danny Glover). The Tenenbaum’s servant Pagoda (Kumar Pallana), still loyal to Royal, informs him of the marriage proposal. One by one Richie, Chas, and Margot gravitate back home, and Royal tells Ethel and the children that he is dying of cancer in order to block Henry’s marriage proposal and try to reconnect with his family.
What is immediately striking about the film is the incredible amount of imaginative detail thrown into it. Things don’t exist in Anderson’s film the way we are used to seeing them. He makes us see them as he sees them giving the film a fantasy quality about it.
It is set in New York, but it is not any New York you or I have ever been to. It is more of a child’s fantasy New York which director Wes Anderson is so incredible at capturing creating an atmosphere that is all his own. There are real sounding places and particulars like Archer Avenue, Gypsy cabs, the 375th ST. Y, the Green line bus, the Cavendish Theater, and The Lindbergh Palace Hotel that create this realistic pseudo New York.
There are all sorts of little details packed into Anderson’s film which are memorable, funny, and poignant, but never superfluous, being seamlessly woven into the story. A BB still lodged in Chas’s hand, Margot’s secret smoking habit, Eric Anderson’s wonderful paintings which are attributed to Richie in the film just to name a few.
There are many quaint little touches like the chapter headings with Eric Anderson’s distinctive drawings, and fancy table settings with Dalmatian mice, or each character defined by a single costume, my favorite of which is Richie’s Bjorn Borg look complete with headband.
Gene Hackman gives one of the best performances of his career as Royal Tenenbaum, the irresponsible patriarch who always seems to say something inappropriate even when trying to say the right thing. Anderson and Owen’s witty script gives Royal some of the funniest lines in the film like “I’m sorry about your loss. Your mother was a terribly attractive woman” when offering conciliatory words to his grandchildren or “Of course we made certain sacrifices by having children, but no” when the children ask if their parent’s separation is their fault. He is gruff, offensive, and a hell of a lot of fun as he takes it upon himself to breed some recklessness into his grandchildren. His total disregard for rules and what is proper, are the source of much of the film’s comedy.
However, this is not a one man show, or a one character show, as the ensemble cast performs excellently, fully realizing Anderson and Owen’s stable of memorable and incredibly funny characters. Stephen Lea Sheppard is unforgettable as Dudley Heinsbergen who suffers from a ridiculous combination of symptoms which together make up a rare disease called Heinsbergen syndrome, named after Dudley. What really seems apparent is that Anderson and his crew are having as much fun making the film as we are watching it.
Anderson has proven before he knows how to use music and this time is no different. The film’s opening to an instrumental version of Hey Jude by The Beatles, accompanied by Alec Baldwin’s pitch perfect narration, is inspiring, and Ravel’s charming string quartet peppered throughout the film is quite a find.
Anderson’s film is more than just a collection of quirkiness. Underneath all of the eccentricity are characters we really care about in serious situations. Their search for acceptance and love is often touching in between the laughs. That they make us laugh so hard even in the midst of their misery is a tribute to Anderson and Owen’s ability to find such unique humor in almost every situation. When the credits start rolling over Van Morrison’s Everyone you’ll be sad it’s all over.
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