Director Close-up
Wes Anderson’s Whimsical World is More Than Just a Pretty Picture
A deep dive into the colourful, nostalgic cinematic universe of modern-day auteur, Wes Anderson.
Anyone who knows the name ‘Wes Anderson’ could identify the acclaimed filmmaker’s work from a single shot alone. Ubiquitous symmetry, a striking colour palette, and vintage props arranged in a careful flat lay (known as ‘knolling’) coalesce to bring forth a fanciful world imbued with a comforting nostalgia. Anderson’s distinct visual style sets him apart from other filmmakers, but the eccentricity which marks his films often bifurcates audiences. As a personal devotee of Wes Anderson’s work, my judgement may be biased, but I challenge dissenting critics who declare Anderson’s filmography to prioritise “style over substance”.
With his upcoming film, “Asteroid City” set to premier in June 2023, I wish to pay homage to the fantastic imagination of one of the generation’s most iconic filmmakers.
More than a Pretty Picture
Admittedly, one of the main attractions (or for some, repellents) of Anderson’s work, is the quaint visual style through which the filmmaker chooses to tell his stories. His predilection for this idiosyncratic aesthetic has become increasingly visible throughout his career, exemplified in “Moonrise Kingdom” (2012), Oscar-nominated-Best-Picture, “The Grand Budapest Hotel” (2014), and “The French Dispatch” (2021).
If you have ever cared to dissect the anatomy of Anderson’s work, you would have noticed that he inspires an overt precision and formalism in each and every shot. Planimetric composition is one of his most favoured techniques, which involves facing the camera perpendicular to elements of the scene, making the background seem flat against central figures in the foreground. Compositional techniques such as this, paired with compass point editing, which refers to whip pans in 90 degree increments, serve to maintain a highly constructed feel in his work. Most noticeable, however, is his consistent use of symmetry, which achieves a tableaux vivant effect.
Together, they make Anderson’s authorial presence visible; each frame a carefully crafted tableux — its constructed feel a reminder of the creators behind the camera.
In Anderson’s first animated film, “Fantastic Mr. Fox” (2009), he takes this one step further, with evidence of the creator imprinted into each frame — literally. His decision to use real animal fur meant that the crew’s own, personal touch would leave fingerprint impressions visible in every shot; a subtle nod to the creators of the film, but more broadly, to the art of filmmaking.
Whilst enhancing the visibility of oneself in one’s own film may seem like an act of self-importance, it more effectively reminds the audience to respect film as an art form and a conduit of storytelling.
Some will argue that the spectacle of an Anderson film is a semblance for its emotionally vapid characters and hollow storyline, but this is grossly reductive and untrue. Anderson succeeds in capturing a sentimentality and poignancy within his designed 4:3 frame, from the qualms of precocious children in “Moonrise Kingdom”, to the existentialism of processing grief in “The Darjeeling Limited” (2007). In spite of his formalistic style, Anderson captures real stories that are grounded in our reality (think about Nolan’s work), but at the same time are so fanciful they feel like a world imagined.
Anderson’s films are reminiscent of a simpler time. Ones that evoke a keen sense of nostalgia and feel like reading a book huddled under the covers by flashlight. A bittersweet return to the world that once was, or to a world you wish you could have experienced. This idea was captured beautifully by actor Ralph Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel) in an interview with the New York Times.
“But there’s a bittersweet feeling from the nostalgia for the thing you never actually experienced, the time you never actually lived in. Writers’ and filmmakers’ imaginations absolutely hinge on this.”
— Ralph Fiennes on “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Anderson’s recurring tale-within-a-tale-within-a-tale device, that appears in almost all his work, serves as a stairway into the unique fantasy world he creates in each film. Most prominently executed in “The Grand Budapest Hotel”, Anderson speaks of the film as being at “two removes from today. We take our first step and then another. We go back more into this belle époque winter wonderland.” We again, return to the forgotten power of film as an amalgamation of art and storytelling.
Adjunct to being a pretty picture, Anderson crafts melancholic, visionary, nostalgia-inducing stories that may not be to the taste of all, but are nonetheless, trailblazers in an ever commercialising industry. If you ever wish to revisit a time you have never experienced, I suggest you immerse yourself in the whimsical world of Wes Anderson. ✦
Sources:
https://www.curzon.com/journal/unpacking-wes-anderson-s-cinematic-style/
https://www.newsweek.com/wes-anderson-movies-overrated-1641341
