Review of The Grand Budapest Hotel, directed by Wes Anderson

If you’re new here and stumbled on this blog through the mythical and magical powers of the Internet, or because of whatever the search engines decided was going to show up today when you Google something, welcome! My name is Ashley, and I made this blog in addition to my author/writer portfolio because I wanted to remember all of the books, shows, and movies I was coming across throughout the years.

I read and watch a lot, and I used to work as a professional film critic on the side when I was in graduate school. While I loved going to film festivals and ploughing through 500 pages of readings a week, on top of my regular fiction and nonfiction TBR list, I wasn’t remembering everything at the end of the day.

So I started writing little reviews and posts to keep an archive. It’s also pretty fun to return to a book or movie after a few years, then come to this website to see what I thought about it originally. One could call this a mind map, especially as you can literally track changes in the way we think throughout a set period of time through this kind of work.

As I suddenly became unemployed in January 2025, while waiting for my visa to come through, I decided to spend some time off and see what I could do with this blog. It was extremely unexpected and I am so grateful to have had the money to be able to do this, as most people cannot afford to take off work for this long.

Today’s blog post is dedicated to a series that I’ve been working throughout recently: revisiting old films I’ve watched over the years. I’ve been going back to old television series and movies lately for the nostalgia factor, but also seeing how my opinions have changed throughout the years (so what I was saying earlier).

This post is on The Grand Budapest Hotel, which came out quite a bit ago, and I watched when I was in high school. I was thinking about it lately, so I decided to revisit it after all of these years!

Let’s get into the review—I don’t want to ramble too much in the introduction.

In a European resort, a concierge and his bellboy go on a hunt for a missing Renaissance painting.

This film begins in what’s presumably the future: a woman goes to the shrine of a writer who became famous for his novel The Grand Budapest Hotel. When he was a young man, he went to the Grand Budapest, which is in disrepair in 1968, and there he met the owner: Zero. While at dinner, Zero tells the story of something that happened when he was a young boy.

In 1932, Zero is hired as a lobby boy at the Grand Budapest Hotel. He’s just escape his country, which fell to fascism, and his entire family was killed as a result of the regime change. His superviser is concierge Monsieur Gustave H., who is such a professional and good at his jobs.

Gustave is well-known among their clients, but when Madame D., a wealthy client, passes away, the duo goes to the funeral. There, a surprise announcement occurs: the Renaissance painting Boy With Apple has been given to Gustave, leading to uproar. The woman’s son and Dmitri, who works with the regime, want that painting, but Zero and Gustave take it and put it in a hotel safe.

Gustave is then arrested for murder; he has been framed by the Madame’s people. In jail, Gustave uses his charm to befriend the gang in jail with him, and then they all make plans to escape through the sewage system. Zero puts the materials they need inside of the pastries through his fiancee Agatha, and because the goods are so beautiful, the guards don’t check them.

The group escapes, and one man sacrifices himself for the good of the group. Zero finds Gustave, and they decide they need to prove he is innocent. They use the Society of the Crossed Keys, a group of concierges, and they arrange a meeting with Serge, who was the Madame’s butler that sold Gustave out. Turns out there’s a missing will that should only be revealed if the Madame was murdered, but then Serge is killed before their eyes.

They chase Jopling, and Zero is forced to save Gustave by pushing Jopling off of a cliff and grabbing Gustave before he falls off himself. The duo flees, and they reunite with Agatha at the Grand Budapest. Turns out Dmitri took the entire hotel over, and Agatha tries to escape, but Zero and Gustave are unable to save her when she’s captured.

A fight breaks out, and the painting is eventually reached. The group finds the second will attached to the back of the fainting, and it reveals she owned the hotel. She wants to leave it to Gustave, and his name is cleared in court because of this. Dmitri is forced to leave the country,

Eventually, Gustave becomes very wealthy. Zero and Agatha eventually marry, but when the three of them are on a train, soldiers destroy Zero’s documents. Gustave is killed by the soldiers when he resists, and he leaves everything behind for Zero. He keeps the hotel open as long as possible, even after Agatha and their son die of illness.

Overall Thoughts

This is actually one of my favorite Wes Anderson movies. It’s not entirely my cup of tea, so it doesn’t rank in my best films I’ve ever seen (remember: taste is subjective, I could easily see how someone might consider this one of the best movies they’ve ever seen), but I can appreciate the story a lot.

Anderson movies are deeper than they appear, so the nuance in this movie might seem like it’s out there, but you could connect the dots, especially if you know your history. That said, this film is also a feat of technical skill. The blocking and visuals alone make it a delight to watch.

All of this is to say: go see it if you haven’t already. Don’t just read a summary: movies are meant to be experienced, not read about.

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