Influence- Zweig & Anderson

Just a few minutes into the movie, and the influence of Stefan Zweig’s work on it is quite evident. The thing about ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ that intrigues you is the flawlessly aligned frame of each scene. Wes Anderson’s style of storytelling is inspired by the style of Stefan Zweig; from the language used by the narrator to the Author based approach to the story, the similarities are uncanny.

Both, the author and the director have narrated their stories through the eyes of the author. It is made very clear that the story consists of their vision and is whatever they believe to be true. Wes Anderson clearly, got inspired  by the ‘Story within a story’ concept adopted by Zweig wherein there always exists a mystical, almost animated aspect which, in case of the movie, has been used for the purpose of either humour or providing the audience with a variety of visually appealing frames. Even the language used by both the artists holds similarities. The director has interpreted the accent, poise and demeanour of the characters of Zweig’s stories according to how we would imagine them to be after reading his stories and understanding his characters.

While the movie has a more direct and straight forward take on humour, the subtlety of humour in the novellas written by Stefan Zweig is evident. Both the artists seem to have strong control over the course that their respective stories would take and in the process of unfolding them to their audiences, create characters that are familiar but not necessarily relatable. The similarity between their works lies in the way their characters are written. These characters seem to have a life outside of the immediate story too, maybe in the present or in the past. There is no unnecessary emphasis on the background or past of the characters, though a significant amount of general description is provided keeping in mind the importance of it to the story.

Wes Anderson has admittedly borrowed inspiration from the theme and mood of Zweig’s work for his own work; and somewhere along the movie, it is quite clear that the plot has been developed keeping in mind Zweig’s work too, the similarities being the progressive yet sharp storyline, The vague and almost secretive background of the characters, the unpredictability of it all and also, the philosophies endorsed in the movie as confessed by Wes Anderson himself.  I also feel the need to emphasis on the existence of an underlying sense of tragedy in their work. Humour has been provided to take the story forward, but their work, in the rawest form, has a sense of tragedy that has been left for the audiences to interpret according to their own imagination.

Zweig seems to be convinced in the philosophies that he endorses in his stories and Anderson backed them with his movie. While watching the movie and while reading Zweig’s work, the mystical worlds created, enticed me completely. I was charmed by the old fashioned and delicate representation of work that has more depth in fewer words. The intensity of the work is equivalent to the depth that lies in the eyes