THE FRENCH DISPATCH

US, 2021, 107 minutes, Colour.

Bill Murray, Benicio del Toro, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, lea Seydoux, Frances McDormand, Timothee Chalamet, Lyna Khoudiri, Jeffrey Wright, Mathieu Amalric, Steve Park, Owen Wilson, Bob Balaban, Henry Winkler, Lois Smith, Dennis Menochet, Larry Piling, Jason Schwartzman, Fisher Stevens, Griffin Dunne, Elizabeth Moss, Liev Schreiber, Christophe Waltz, Cecile de France, Rupert Friend, Alex Lawther, Saiorse Ronan.

Directed by Wes Anderson.

Indescribable is the word that comes to mind when trying to write a review of The French Dispatch. Well, not exactly indescribable – but a very, very hard to describe.

Perhaps, it is sufficient to say that this is a Wes Anderson film. For over 30 years, Anderson has been a significant figure in American cinema, always idiosyncratic, oddball characters, unexpected situations, comic and serious interactions, continually developing a very personal visual style, a combination of realism, using stylised sets to remind audiences of the artificiality of this storytelling, his films often like animation (remembering that he did direct two animation films, Islel Of Dogs), and, while we’re thinking about this, there is a sudden insertion of an animated car chase. (We remember the Royal Tennenbaums, Steve Zissou, Moonrise Kingdom, Grand Budapest Hotel.)

Wes Anderson had an admiration for the American magazine, The New Yorker, and it seems that this is a motivation for this story (and he does have a list of New Yorker contributors during the final credits). So, he has created a magazine, which started in Liberty, Kansas, called Picnic which then became more popular, having international correspondents and a French headquarters in (and the title of the city indicates the droll intentions of Anderson), Ennui sur Blasé. And he invites us there in 1975, the imminent death of the editor, and the closure of the magazine. However, we are also invited to observe the editor in action, the wide range of eccentric correspondents, and the insertion of three short stories by key writers.

Each of the stories is entertaining in its way but this reviewer preferred the first one by far. Tilda narrates In the rates the first story, Frances McDormand the second, Jeffrey Wright the third. The first story features Benicia del Toro, Lea Seydoux, Adrien Brody – and, that is Henry Winkler as one of the uncles looking far older than we remember him! The second story  features Timothee Chalamet.. The third story opens with Jeffrey Wright (interviewed on television by Liev Schreiber), with Mathieu Amalric as the police commissionaire whose son is kidnapped and an odd guest spot by Willem Dafoe.

At the beginning, Anderson gives us a title page, indicating the range of the film’s contents, a kind of travelogue of Ennui, the three stories which correspond to various sections of the magazine, arts, protest, culinary… And, gives a spoiler that there will be a death, a final obituary section.

The cast list just to look at is rather exhausting! So many of this cast have appeared in other Anderson films, sometimes many of them, especially Bill Murray as the editor, Tilda Swinton as the art journalist, Edward Norton as the chauffeur. And you have to look quickly to catch some of the cast, especially the journalists in the editor’s room, and this reviewer missed Saoirse Ronan until he saw her name in the final credits.

And, there is always Wes Anderson’s dialogue. There are not so many laugh out loud moments. Rather, there are touches of irony, touches of the droll, and smiles at the clever repartee as well as the frequent eccentric interactions.

On re-reading this review, it seems like this is how we describe the indescribable.

1. The idiosyncrasies of Wes Anderson’s films? Topics, characters, interactions, treatment? Realistic/stylised? Visuals, dialogue, comedy, serious themes?
2. The French settings, the joke with the town, Ennui Sur Blasé? The parody of a French city? The visuals, the realism of neighbourhoods, the artificial sets? The settings for the three main stories? The asylum, the city student protests, the police dining room, prison, car chases? The variety of the musical score?
3. Wes Anderson’s admiration for the New Yorker? His listing of the admired contributors? Homage, parody? The magazine from Liberty, Kansas? The French office, the French Dispatch? 1925-1975?
4. The structure of the film, the inevitable explanation and chart, the focus on the magazine, the editor, his death, the newsroom and the assembled journalists, the introduction to each journalist, the insertion of the three stories, in colour and black-and-white, the aftermath, the death of the editor, the gathering, morning? And the burial in Kansas and the end of the paper?
5. The wide range of the cast, so many of those who had appeared in Wes Anderson films?
6. The introduction, Bill Murray as the editor, his demands, the staff in the room, firing the boy who cried, discussing each of the contributors, their idiosyncrasies, where they chose to do their writing? The final discussions with each of the three writers? His discussion of what they should leave in and omit? His vision for the magazine? Sudden collapse, death, lying in state, everybody mourning?
7. The bike riding correspondent, the tour of the city? Pratfalls?
8. The first story, the artist in the asylum, Simone and her posing, her control of the artist, straitjacket, in his cell? The scenes of posing, stances, exercises? His painting? His reputation in the prison? Cadazio in prison, bribing the guard with chocolates, seeing the paintings, his commercial idea, the arguments with the artist? The flashbacks to the artists youth, violence in the bar, the decapitations, crime, prison, the transition from the younger actor to the older? Cadazio and his uncles, their advice? Commissioning the painting, financial support, the years passing? Eventually coming to the prison, the admiration, the discovery that the paintings were on the prison walls? The elderly art expert and her views? Her advisor? Financial deals, the prisoners bashing the door down? Time passing and the reputation of the paintings? Simone, the finances, leaving prison duties? The artwork and the transition to Kansas, the building with the corn growing outside!
9. The narration by Tilda Swinton, her character, art expert, clothes, orange hair, the style of the lecture, the slides, her writing the article?
10. The second story, the transition, 1968, echoes of the Paris student uprisings, Lucinda telling the story, her personality, age, spinster, the contact with Zeffirelli, the discussions, his manifesto, editing it, writing it, the appendix? In bed with him? Her observing the students, Juliet and the discussions, the apology? Zeffirelli and his status, his parents, the device of the clash with the authorities, the playing chess, the mayor and his supervising, decisions, the riot squad, the students dressed for the barricades, the attacks? Lucinda and her vision of Zeffirelli and Juliet, writing to the moon? Advocating the romance?
11. The third story, the French police, the chief, his son, the kidnapping? The dining room? The emphasis on food? Cuisine? The recipes, Nescaffier, the crisis, the thugs, his poisoning them, willing to poison himself, the aftermath and recovery, the discussion of the herbs? Roebuck Wright, background, personality, chosen by the editor, his investigations, the television interview with the host, (the joke about the sponsor), meeting the commissionaire, the kidnapping, Albert the Abacus, the complications with the thugs – animation for the car chase and the transition to animation? The complications of the story? The editor discussing the recipe to be included in the article?
12. The aftermath, the assembly of all the contributors, the death of the editor? The doctor, the funeral?
13. And the final information?