The Grand Budapest Hotel : A Symphony of Colors
Color. Color is such an overlooked but key aspect of our lives. The different wavelengths of light in such a precise manner invoking emotional responses in Human Beings. So ignored but the minutiae of it is such a poignant and profound thing that an abandoned object captures our attention with just one imbalance of color. Such is the power of the shades and hue.
When we talk about the usage of color in film, it is often a playing field of the largest proportions. A red lampshade, a clean white wall, a black sofa and a white light. The first thing to strike you might be feeling of sophistication in that room, the gripping lack of intimacy. Placing a man in a black tuxedo and a woman in a white gown only reaffirms our ideas. Now, let’s throw in the element of change. Let’s change the lampshade to light pink with a soft yellowish light emanating from it, the wall is now a luscious red wallpaper with golden patterns on it and the sofa is now a leathery beige. Put those same people in that room and you might think they’d just tear of their clothing and start making passionate love. The removal of bold hard colors and the injection of warm soft colors dramatically changes the tone of the frame. What was once an embodiment of coldness and sophistication, is now home to the feeling of warmth and passion, in the setting of love. One might see this action at play in the highly acclaimed romantic drama, ‘In The Mood For Love’, directed by the reputed Wong Kar Wai of Hong Kong.
Another pioneer in the usage of color, is the American director, Wes Anderson. His film , The Grand Budapest Hotel, is the topic of today’s essay.
When we think of the Grand Budapest Hotel, we perceive a lighthearted comedy, served deliciously on a silver platter, a stance cemented by the opening shrill singing (something unanimously linked to comedy, which in the belief of this naïve novice, is due to the theatrics that has been historically portrayed when singing Opera) and the light pink hue that imbues the first minute and a half of the motion picture. But when we look beyond that, The Grand Budapest Hotel is nothing short of a tragedy, shown in a most gorgeous and aesthetic manner. The film is divided into four timelines. We will refer to them as the first, the second, the third and the fourth. The first involves the timeline of M.Gustave, the second involving the timeline of Zero Mustafa and the younger self of the author, the third involving the elder self of the author and the fourth involving the period post the death of the author.
The film starts with the fourth timeline, with a young girl walking through a cemetery to visit the bust of an elderly man, played by Tom Wilkinson in the later frames. The scene is grim and should evoke a sadness and melancholic response. But the hue of colors presents us with a conflict. The scene tells us to feel sad while the color tries to make us cheerful. But as anyone who has seen the film, they know why the scene is supposed to be a somber and grim reminder of what has happened in the past, a fact corroborated by a sneaky move by the director with his inclusion of three Romanian styled men, sitting on a bench like ghosts of a tragic past. With such a scene, we begin our journey.
The very next scene shows us the elderly man in the third timeline, now revealed to be an author, giving a monologue that is inspiring as well as informative, a fact that is cemented by the brown hue of the scene, something that screams intelligence and a faculty figure, a phenomenon I believe to have stemmed from the classic brown shades of libraries and educational institutions. Wes Anderson then again gives us a hint of the film’s comedic nature by including the grandson of the author, disrupting the flow of the scene and adding a subtle relatable piece of humor.
The following scenes lead us through the introduction of to the eponymous hotel during the second timeline. The entire period showcasing the film involves lush colors in a very matte and darkish tone, almost as if inadequately lit. This gives the hotel, a very used and old feel, which compliments the scene in such a dazzling fashion as this timeline involves the younger self of the author, played by Jude Law, learning about the hotel and making observations that point out the age of the hotel and it’s dying state. The outside scenes involve a dead, almost low saturated green, lit in the pinkish hue of the frame. This further assures us of the comedy nature of the film, but also brings out the penultimate years of the hotel. The interiors are in matte and mid saturated oranges, a color scheme that speaks warmth but with a reluctant disdain. A clever use of this color scheme is in the clothing. The author himself is wearing a tweed jacket, and almost blends in with the hotel with the other occupants’ sans two. The concierge, Jean, is in a matte purple. While the color is a standout, the matte shading of the color also blends him in with the scheme. But the real standout of this scene is Zero, whose shiny velvety dark blue jacket stands out like a bodybuilder in a crowd of skinny people. This almost neglected aspect, becomes a centerpiece of explaining the balance of color. The very imbalance makes us notice Zero, and not just us, but the author himself notices him, capturing his interest. Further matte shading and low saturated colors of Zero’s room simply shows us the absence of happiness in life, a metaphorical absence of color. A similar phenomenon is also observed with the author, who has grown considerably detached from the world and lost a footing in professional steps. This follows on for the next minute or so, until we reach the main timeline or the first one.
The entirety of this timeline is matte, but the hotel scenes have a certain vibrancy to it. It reeks of new, happening and elite, everything the hotel upholds. All set in glorious hues of red, purple, pink, white, orange, yellow and brown, the significance of these colors is that they all gelled into a color scheme that shows an era gone by. A similar scheme is followed throughout the interior shots such as the one involving the train. Scenes involving the exterior and hostile environments are laden in colors of white, grey, brown and black, such as the jail and the residence of Agatha, played by Saoirse Ronan. The schemes here invoke a sense of abandon, misery and poverty.
But a beautiful and clever trick used in the imagery department is also noticeable here. When Monsieur Gustave, played by Ralph Fiennes, first arrives in the prison, the colors are exclusively desaturated yellow and grey, but when we see M. Gustave making friends, the frames include sunshine yellow in increasing saturation, a color mostly associated with peace, friendship and happiness. They key aspect here is the increasing friendship between the inmates is reflected in the increasing saturation of the yellow shade in those specific scenes. Another such utilization of this tool is when we see Agatha and Zero on a carousel, where a bluish gloomy background is present, but they are in a lighted area with shades of orange and yellow. This is a profound symbolism where we can infer that the world outside is majorly depressing for them, but their presence and budding love for each other gives them an escape into a world separate, like a world of fantasy existing parallel for them. Similarly, the regularly gloomy area that is Agatha’s room, is now shrouded in warm colors when Zero and her make love. Similar symbolism remains strewn throughout the film.
The penultimate area of observation comes from the moment we are told that M.Gustave didn’t succeed in growing old. In a transformation that foreshadows the series of tragedies that are to hit, we see that the scene is now in greyscale and we see firsthand, the altercation that leads to the death of M.Gustave.
Following this, we realize that the scenes are much less bright, even lesser than our first glimpse into the second timeline, which I previously called as looking inadequately lit. This is an important aspect in this, as now the scenes are bordering on dark, almost like something from the recent DC cinematic universe, but with reason and depth. A very melancholic emotion hits us as we realize that the only reason Zero has latched himself onto a doomed hotel, is because of nostalgia and memories he would rather die protecting than letting go. This will echo to each and every one of us because even the most logical person has that one thing that they refuse to let go, no matter the cost or burden that comes with it. The tragedy aspect of this film is highlighted here, as by the end, main and characters that have become endearing, meet their untimely demise by politically motivated murder, disease, depression and old age. The end returns us back to the fourth timeline, with the young girl, sitting beside the bust of the now deceased author, in a gloomier area with a similar pink hue. The only difference being that the hue now no longer leads us to humor, but melancholy, representing a mystical property of color which is evoking contrasting emotions using the same color.
The Grand Budapest Hotel remains one of the finest contemporary films to have been released, and it is a masterclass in its usage of framing and color. It is abundant in visual appeal and aesthetics, while having hidden metaphors and symbolism laid across the film. Whether we choose to go the extra mile, to observe and fully appreciate the symphony of moving images, is up to us. But in the humble opinion of this cinema addict, it would be a crime not to do so .
7 min readMar 25, 2017