By: Andrew Wing
The French Dispatch is a 2021 anthology film written, directed, and produced by Wes Anderson from a story he conceived with Roman Coppola (son of the director of The Godfather trilogy, Francis Ford Coppola), Hugo Guinness (worked with Anderson on the story for The Grand Budapest Hotel), and Jason Schwartzman (has starred in seven Anderson films including this one). The film stars an ensemble cast, featuring Benicio del Toro (Traffic, Sicario), Adrien Brody (The Pianist, King Kong), Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton, Burn After Reading), Léa Seydoux (Inglourious Basterds, No Time to Die), Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Nomadland), Timothée Chalamet (Call Me by Your Name, Dune), Lyna Khoudri (Papicha, Gagarine), Jeffrey Wright (The Hunger Games films, Westworld), Mathieu Amalric (Munich, Quantum of Solace), Stephen Park (Do the Right Thing, Fargo), Bill Murray (Ghostbusters, Lost in Translation), and Owen Wilson (Wedding Crashers, Midnight in Paris).
Its plot follows three different storylines as the French foreign bureau of the fictional Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun newspaper creates its final issue. Additional cast members in The French Dispatch include Liev Schreiber (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Ray Donovan), Edward Norton (Fight Club, The Incredible Hulk), Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man, The Florida Project), Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird, Little Women), Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid’s Tale, The Invisible Man), Jason Schwartzman (Rushmore, Marie Antoinette), Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained), and Anjelica Huston (The Witches, The Addams Family).
The project was first mentioned in August 2018 as an untitled musical set after World War II. That December, the film was officially announced, with Anderson calling it a “love letter to journalists.” Filming took place between November 2018 and March 2019, with cinematographer Robert D. Yeoman (Bridesmaids, The Grand Budapest Hotel), in the city of Angoulême, France. During post-production, editing was completed by Andrew Weisblum (The Wrestler, Black Swan) and the musical score was composed by Alexandre Desplat (won the Academy Award for Best Original Score on the films The Grand Budapest Hotel and The Shape of Water).
Following a delay from 2020, The French Dispatch had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021, and was theatrically released in the United States by Searchlight Pictures on October 22, 2021.
THE GOOD
When it comes to film for the year 2021, The French Dispatch was easily one of the most anticipated films of the year with it coming from one of the most successful directors working today, Wes Anderson. For me personally, it was right up there with Dune (see my full review here) in terms of my level of excitement, so it was only fitting that they had the same U.S. release date. Add in the larger than life cast consisting of the who’s who of Hollywood right now, and I was chomping at the bit to see if Wes Anderson could do the unthinkable. The unthinkable being if he could possibly make an even better film than his last live-action film, The Grand Budapest Hotel that collected 9 nominations at the 87th Academy Awards, and won three. So now you’ll just have to read and find out to see if he did!
The main attraction with The French Dispatch outside of Wes Anderson, is undoubtedly the ensemble cast. Anderson is used to having these crazy star-studded casts, but with this film, he went another route in terms of how he was going to portray them all. That different route being an anthology film featuring three different stories. I have to say, I really liked how the film was broken down into three different parts because it gave all of the big names in this movie their time to shine. Now this unique format for Anderson wasn’t perfect, and I’ll touch on that later in the review, but it was still very effective. Obviously, some of the all-stars in this cast don’t get as much screen time and rather serve just as cameos, but nonetheless it was still great to see stars like Saoirse Ronan and Christoph Waltz even if it was just a cameo.
The way the film was structured was just awesome, and just to give you reading this some food for thought, the film begins with some introduction to the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun newspaper, before diving into the three stories. The first story deals with an artist who has been sentenced to life imprisonment and features Benicio del Toro, Léa Seydoux, Adrien Brody, and Tilda Swinton. The second story deals with student riots and its main players are Frances McDormand, Timothée Chalamet, and Lyna Khoudri. And lastly, the third story follows a kidnapping that gets resolved by a chef and that features Jeffrey Wright, Mathieu Amalric, and Stephen Park.
The first story was easily my favorite as we saw Benicio del Toro really stand out from the rest of the cast as he played the artist serving life imprisonment. Continuing with the first story, I also really enjoyed both Adrien Brody and Tilda Swinton a lot as they were both downright hilarious at times. My favorite duo though came in the second story with two of my favorite actors period in Frances McDormand and Timothée Chalamet as I loved their chemistry. I would love for this not to be the last time the two of them share the screen together because it was just a blast to watch.
All three stories, and the movie as a whole was very funny and it obviously features a good amount of that classic witty Wes Anderson dialogue that we have come to expect in all of his films. Lastly, despite Bill Murray not being featured in any of the stories, he is still the most prominent figure in the non-story scenes with his character being the editor of the paper, and let me just say that I never get tired of him. He is one of the funniest actors we have ever seen and his comedic delivery just goes hand-in-hand with Wes Anderson’s writing.
When it comes to the best part of The French Dispatch, it has got to be the production design. The production design is simply off the charts. The amount of effort and detail that Wes Anderson and his team put in for just one single shot that lasts for maybe three or four seconds is unfathomable. It will easily get a nomination for Best Production Design at the 94th Academy Awards, and I would put my money on it to win because it is that good. Along with that, the visuals don’t end there as both the costumes are really good and the cinematography is gorgeous. The film is sort of told half in color and half in black and white, and both looks were excellent. The film is just so incredibly well done from its blocking, to the movement, to the positioning of the actors within the frame in every scene, and is just an absolute treat with its delicious aesthetics. It's easily one of the most meticulous films I’ve ever seen as every inch of every shot is just so satisfying to look at.
Not only does the film look amazing, but it also sounds really good as well with the score done by Alexandre Desplat. Desplat is just great and all of his scores he has done in the past in Wes Anderson films have been among his best and that is the case here as he will be looking to attain yet another nomination for Best Original Score. He just knows how to make a very fun and enjoyable score and it’s no surprise that he is considered one of the best composers in the industry today.
THE BAD
Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed this film as Wes Anderson just flexes his muscles with every aspect of it. To be honest though, the movie was sometimes kind of overwhelming just with so much going on visually as well as the fast-paced dialogue and also the storylines that were a little overcomplicated. I was fine with the visual overstimulation as I just love me some sick visuals, but when it came to the convoluted plot especially in the third story, it was frustrating and definitely took away some points.
My biggest issue with the film has got to be just its anthology structure. I liked it because we got to see all of the big names attached, but it was definitely a head-scratching decision from Wes Anderson to do it that way because he has never done an anthology before. He usually sticks with the comedy-drama genre for his films, and I don’t know why he went away from that because with the anthology structure and the three different stories, we don’t get a central arch that goes through one character. With no central story arch, we really don’t get any strong climactic moments that all great movies have. Because of that, it was just tough to truly care about any of these characters as nobody really makes a lasting impression, and that’s not what you want with these big ensemble casts.
Lastly, the first story was my favorite, the second story was my second favorite, and the third and final story was my least favorite. I think that descending order is probably not the best order to present this movie in and I think it hurts the viewing experience as a whole.
THE VERDICT
Despite it not being Wes Anderson’s best as he goes off the beaten path with an anthology film that features a convoluted plot with no true climax, The French Dispatch is still a really fun movie you will have a consistently good time with. There is not a single scene to be bored by as we get in my opinion, Wes Anderon’s most visually stunning and eye-popping film yet.
TED TAKES RATING - 7.7/10
The French Dispatch is now playing only in theaters. Check out the latest trailer below.