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How the egotistical nature of the main characters drive the film.                               "you forgot the L’air dePanache? I don’t believe it. How couldyou? I’ve been in jail, Zero! Do you understand how humiliating this is? I smell" - Gustave after escaping jail. 

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How the egotistical nature of the main characters drive the film.                               "you forgot the L’air dePanache? I don’t believe it. How couldyou? I’ve been in jail, Zero! Do you understand how humiliating this is? I smell" - Gustave after escaping jail. 

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O L I V I A

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"Call the police. We’re pressing charges. This criminal has plagued my family for nearly twenty years. He’s a ruthless adventurer and a con-artist who preys on mentally feeble, sick old ladies -- and he probably 🤬 them, too!"

"This man is an intruder in my home!"

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How the main characters immediately gain our attention by the way they interact with those characters close to them.

"You have nothing to fear, your always anxious before you travel, I admit you appear to be suffering a more acute attack on this occasion but truely and honestly.."

"Dear god, what have you done to your finger nails, this diabolical varnish, the colours completely wrong". .... "It's not that I don't like it I am physically repulsed". Gustave shows that he has no problem sharing his opinion openly to Madame D. Previously in the film he had been polite and charming but what he says here comes as a surprise and this immediately gains our attention.

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“We were a very reserved group it would seem, and without exception, solitary.”

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Gustave is a larger than life character, "There are two waiters, two footmen, two bellboys, ... One of the waiters carries a table, and one carries a breakfast tray. M. Gustave ushers them in, " he is surrounded by a large group of servants who all jump to do his bidding. He has an air of royalty and that is why the word 'ushers' is used to describe how he commands them, in a theatrical way.     

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Gustave is a larger than life character, "There are two waiters, two footmen, two bellboys, ... One of the waiters carries a table, and one carries a breakfast tray. M. Gustave ushers them in, " he is surrounded by a large group of servants who all jump to do his bidding. He has an air of royalty and that is why the word 'ushers' is used to describe how he commands them, in a theatrical way.     

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 " M.   Gustave   becomes   philosophical/ nihilistic: M.   GUSTAVE There’s   really   no   point   in   doing   anything  in   life,  because   it’s   all   over   in   the  blink   of   an   eye   --     Oh,  how  the   good   die   young!   With   any   luck,  she’s  left   a   few   Klubecks   for  your   old   friend   --(motioning   to   himself) -- "  

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 " M.   Gustave   becomes   philosophical/ nihilistic: M.   GUSTAVE There’s   really   no   point   in   doing   anything  in   life,  because   it’s   all   over   in   the  blink   of   an   eye   --     Oh,  how  the   good   die   young!   With   any   luck,  she’s  left   a   few   Klubecks   for  your   old   friend   --(motioning   to   himself) -- "  

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Dual character [good and bad at the same time] Is he bi-polar?
Gustave: positive qualities = thinks deeply ---  wants to be innocent and think about meaning of life. Admires the innocence of Zero and Agatha.
negative= uncaring, materialistic -- hope she leaves me some money.

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"The   cosmopolitan   city   of   Lutz   in   the   dead   of   night.   A  rickity   Daimler   taxi   sputters   along   a   winding  cobblestone   road   at   top   speed.   ...  a   stop  next   to   Madame   D’s   limousine." 

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"The   cosmopolitan   city   of   Lutz   in   the   dead   of   night.   A  rickity   Daimler   taxi   sputters   along   a   winding  cobblestone   road   at   top   speed.   ...  a   stop  next   to   Madame   D’s   limousine." 

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Theme: Civilisation --- film technique [ set design and camera movement]

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"Dear God. What’ve you done to your
fingernails?"

"It’s not that I don’t like it. I’m
physically repulsed."

"A tall, blond, forty-year-old concierge"

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"We are brothers" - Zero

"This is the divine Zero" - Gustave

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"Who wouldn't want to work at grand budapest, its an institution, Sir." -  Zero

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"will you light a candle for me, please?"
"she was shaking like a 🤬 dog"

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12 May 2020       Quotes and Explanations        

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12 May 2020       Quotes and Explanations        

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Write 3 quotes from your TGBH  scene and say how it fits with your main theme/ argument.

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Loyalty

If returning to the same hotel for nineteen consecutive seasons ain't loyalty, then we don't know what is. Gustave values loyalty and is willing to go to any lengths to obtain it. Loyalty is something that Gustave works hard to earn, with the hotel, patrons, his prisoner friends, Madame D.'s servants, Henckels, and, most importantly, his lobby boy Zero.

How does one gain loyalty? By being loyal. Just one look at Gustave in his natural habitat and you'll see just how loyal he is to The Grand Budapest Hotel.

Questions About Loyalty

1. How loyal is Serge really? Does he betray Gustave, or was lying his only hope? What can we assume about his knowledge of Gustave's relationship with Madame D.?

2. Does Gustave really earn the loyalty of his fellow inmates, or are they just using him so his Mendl's can be a smuggling device?

3. How self-serving is Gustave's loyalty? Does it seem out of character when he talks of selling Boy with Apple and abandoning the hotel?

Chew on This

Gustave is loyal only when it serves him most. His relationship with Madame D. is based around entertaining a patron (with some added benefits like sex and a potential inheritance). His attitude about selling her beloved painting shows his true colors.

Gustave puts loyalty above all. The relationships he establishes (e.g. with "little Albert," Pinky and the gang, the hotel's elderly female patrons, etc.) are founded on his genuine, concierge-esque concern to please all of those around him, without necessarily expecting anything in return.

Memory and the Past

You need look no further than the various settings to know The Grand Budapest Hotel is going to have a lot to say about the past and how it's remembered. We start with a girl reading a book written by a man who tells the story of his younger self, who met a man who tells a story of his younger self.

Basically everything we see is a memory, open to misconstruction and interpretation. Perhaps even more thematically important, however, is how Gustave himself is remembered and how his presence itself is a callback to a past long gone.

Questions About Memory and the Past

1. Whose memory are we really in? Is this Mustafa's head that visualizes his past, or is it the Author picturing the events as Mustafa describes them?

2. What is the point of having so many layers and in distancing the core action of the story so far from what you might call the "present"? Is Anderson just being artsy, or might it serve a purpose?

3. Do you think we can trust what we see on the screen? Is The Grand Budapest a story about how old minds bend the past over time, or should we take what we see for granted?

Chew on This

Gustave's inability to adapt to his present era is what ultimately causes his downfall.

Gustave's outdated ways are what brought him so much success. His ability to charm everyone around him with his genteel manners helped him gain the deserved trust and respect of those who knew him.

Art and Culture

"Ugh," you might say when watching The G rand Budapest Hotel. "Look at those moldy, vain, snobs. They're so concerned with their art and their L'Air de Panache, Pouilly-Jouvet, and chiaroscuro."

However, The Grand Budapest Hotel doesn't only mock this excess of what might be called "culture"-it also celebrates it. The Grand Budapest itself is a bastion of art, and a central plot point, Boy with Apple, is an artistic masterpiece.

Questions About Art and Culture

1. In what way is art and culture valuable within the film?

2. What can we make of Gustave's poetry? Is it a joke about what people consider(ed) to be beautiful verse?

3. How can we see the taste in art changing between 1932 and 1968?

Chew on This

The Grand Budapest is an argument for the value and longevity of art and culture.

The Grand Budapest argues that art and culture are pompous and without purpose.

Respect and Reputation

"Respect." It's something you might say to someone who chased a vicious thug down a mountain on a wooden sled, or to someone who dug through a jail cell floor, clambered and tiptoed through a room of guards, crawled through a sewer, and successfully escaped prison.

These feats, however amazing, are not how Gustave has earned his reputation, though. Gustave is known for his charm and his undying servitude to the Grand Budapest Hotel and all its patrons-from the oldest of ladies to the youngest of Alberts. It's this reputation that follows him around like a heavy dose of L'Air de Panache, helping him gain the loyalty of even the most unlikely men.

Questions About Respect and Reputation

1. What is Gustave's reputation like among the Desgoffe und Taxis family? Do you think this reputation is warranted?

2. What do we learn about Mr. Mustafa's reputation? Does it match with what we know of his younger self?

3. What differences do we see between respect and loyalty? Do the two always go together, or can you have one without the other?

Chew on This

Gustave's reputation is a part of the façade he has fabricated in order to be successful in the Zubrowkan hotel business.

Gustave only seeks to please. The respect he earns isn't because he wishes to be respected, but because he wishes to be accommodating... just like any first-rate concierge.

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JavaScript seems to be disabled in your browser. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. If returning to the same hotel for nineteen consecutive seasons ain't loyalty, then we don't know what is. Gustave values loyalty and is willing to go to any lengths to obtain it.