Royal: “You know, Richie, this illness, this closeness to death… it’s had a profound affect on me. I feel like a different person, I really do.”
Richie: “Dad, you were never dying.”
Royal: “But I’m going to live.”
I can’t believe I hadn’t recommended “The Royal Tenenbaums” (2001) earlier. What is the matter with me?! First of all it is directed by one of the most distinctive voices in cinema – Wes Anderson – whose style I’ve been teaching for years in my classes. This was the first film that I saw in the autumn following 9/11 that brought me a sense of healing and hope – since it took place in New York and dealt with a dysfunctional family that is going through a spiritual and existential breakdown – each of them feeling uniquely isolated – but are ultimately reawakened and redeemed by love. Its message, its warmth, its humor, its eccentricity and wit are desperately needed right now when we all can relate to the Tenenbaums’ disconnectedness.
This is an exquisitely and beautifully crafted film that from the get-go establishes its literary feel – starting with an upside-down book being taken out of the library – with the title “The Royal Tenenbaums” emblazoned on its cover. The narration – in a style reminiscent of “Franny and Zooey” – tells about the eccentric family that is led by a narcissist named Royal, his wife Etheline, who is an anthropologist – and their three young genius children. We meet entrepreneur Chas whom dad steals from, the tennis sensation Richie who also paints loving portraits of his adopted sister, and the dramatist Margot – who got a grant to write a play in ninth grade. It is announced that mom and dad have decided to separate. Royal was harsh to Margot’s play on her 11th birthday. “He had not been invited to any of their parties since,” the narrator says. “In fact, virtually all memory of the brilliance of the young Tenenbaums had been erased by two decades of betrayal, failure and disaster.”
It is now 22 years later and Royal is living in a hotel and unable to make payments. In order to move back into their mansion, he lies to Etheline that he has cancer and only six weeks to live. She has had many suitors but has been aloof until her long-time, Black accountant Henry Sherman professes his love. The notion of her getting remarried causes a tremor in the foundation of the family. Their children who didn’t live up to the great expectations of their youth move back in one by one. Chas’ wife died in a plane accident, leaving him with two young children and he now buries himself in his work – afraid that if they get out of the house tragedy may strike again. Margot is in an unhappy marriage – has a secret past that she hasn’t shared with anyone and spends all day in the bath and unable to write a good play. And Richie imploded during a tennis tournament after seeing Margot on the stand with her husband – the neurologist Raleigh St. Clair. To complicate things even further, there’s Eli Cash, their childhood friend from across the street and Richie’s best friend. He is also in love with Margot and hooked on mescaline. It’s a good thing they’re all back home – where they will deal with the past and figure out how to mend all wounds.
With his wry and offbeat sense of humor, Anderson explores these characters that have to confront the chasms between the expectations of the past and their current realities. Taking a cue from Orson Welles’ “The Magnificent Ambersons,” Anderson exploits the frame as a proscenium arch where he meticulously creates specific worlds that feel to me like a doll house or pictures in a book come alive. There’s an absurdist quality to it all, but all of the design elements explain the characters and the themes within the story. The adult versions of the Tenenbaums are wearing the same clothes they did as children – as if they never evolved. In the climactic scene, Anderson does a long take – panning the camera left to right – down the street and showing you individual vignettes of the characters interacting with one another around a fire engine truck – and visually reconciling them. The soundtrack to the movie of 60s songs ranging from Paul Simon to Nico (who serves an inspiration to the way Margot dresses) sets the perfect tone.
There’s a surprisingly warm touch to all of this. The ensemble which includes Angelica Huston, Bill Murray, Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson and Danny Glover are all sensational. Gene Hackman might give his best performance as Royal whom we grow to love despite himself.
Royal: “Look, I know I’m gonna be the bad guy on this one. But I just wanna say the last six days have been the best six days of probably my whole life.”
Narrator: “Immediately after making this statement, Royal realized that it was true.”
Love,
Roger
Available to stream on Amazon Prime and to rent on Google Play, YouTube, iTunes, Vudu, Microsoft, Amazon, FandangoNOW, DIRECTV, AMC Theatres on Demand.
Written by Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson
Directed by Wes Anderson
Starring Danny Glover, Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Bill Murray, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson and Owen Wilson
110 minutes
Director Wes Anderson on Working with Owen Wilson
While directing Owen Wilson in “The Royal Tenenbaums,” Wes Anderson realized there was something different about the way his writing partner and close friend was acting during rehearsal. It had been five years since Anderson last directed him, in “Bottle Rocket,” their first project, which jump-started their careers. Wilson had become a better actor, but he had also developed an annoying habit. “We were rehearsing a scene, and Owen was kind of mumbling and reading off the page and we had Gene Hackman there,” Anderson said. “[I said,] ‘You’re supposed to have it memorized.’ Owen’s like, ‘I don’t memorize before the rehearsal.’ [I said,] ‘What are you talking about?’ [He said,] ‘Wes, this is my seventh movie. This is the way I do it.’ Somewhere around ‘Anaconda,’ he made a shift which I didn’t even know about.”…There was a time, friends recalled, when Wilson would turn down an acting role because he would rather write. Now, he said that while he likes writing, he prefers the process of acting because it’s easier and more social. “You show up on the set, you make new friends, you get to be friends with the crew. Writing is more like having a term paper. You hole up and try to pull something out of nothing. “The thing is with acting, it’s like I’m tapping into the same stuff I would do with writing because I’m improvising sometimes. It’s like the best type of writing because you’re forced to do it that day. If you’re given the lines you’re going to say that day and the lines are embarrassing, there’s nothing like that to motivate you to sit down and try to write something so you don’t sound like an idiot.” (latimes.com)
About Set Decorator Sandy Reynolds-Wasco and Production Designer David Wasco
Production Designer David Wasco and his wife, Set Decorator Sandy Reynolds-Wasco, created Jack Rabbit Slim’s, the 1950s-themed restaurant where John Travolta and Uma Thurman do the twist in “Pulp Fiction.” They crafted the intricate, quirky interior of the derelict Harlem mansion where Gwyneth Paltrow sulks in “The Royal Tenenbaums.” And they styled the prep school where Bill Murray falls in love with a teacher in “Rushmore.” The couple’s work tends to have an offbeat, edgy feel, inspired by California mid century-modern architecture and design, and it has won them accolades. The partners were recognized by Cooper-Hewitt Museum’s 2003 National Design Triennial for pushing the boundaries of design. “When I started to check most of my favorite movies, I started to notice their names were on every one,” said Martin McDonagh, the playwright, screenwriter and director who hired the couple for…”Seven Psychopaths,” starring Colin Farrell and Woody Harrelson…Before choosing locations and making sets, the two go through every scene with the director and the producers, talking about the personalities of the characters and the actions that drive the look of the movie. The more authentic the surroundings, the better the actors can imagine themselves in the real place. “It’s the details that sell it,” said Mrs. Reynolds-Wasco…they scout locations. (For movies they’ve worked on, about 70% of the locations are real.)
…For “The Royal Tenenbaums,” director Wes Anderson had his brother, an illustrator, draw every room, including details like “roll-in hospital bed” and “collection of bones.” The couple tracked down items like the zebra wallpaper that Mr. Anderson had seen at a New York restaurant, convincing the wallpaper company to reissue rolls for the discontinued line…While they’re working, the two play off each other, brainstorming ideas, showing each other images from websites and books, often reining each other in. “David is all fast action. He likes to analyze a situation and make quick historical references. Sandy takes a step back and assesses the situation at hand,” said Ravi GuneWardena, an architect who has worked with them. The couple met in Boston in the 1970s, where they both learned the basics of modern design while working at a company called Design Research, a store that spawned a rash of offshoots. After moving to Los Angeles, they worked together on period dramas for PBS in the 1980s and then the 1992 movie “Reservoir Dogs.” The couple have veered into other fields occasionally. For the Los Angeles County Museum of Art they created full-size mock-ups of iconic “test case” mid century-modern houses using movie production techniques. After “Pulp Fiction,” Disney asked them to help design a chain of Jack Rabbit Slim’s restaurants. But they said they prefer movie sets. “We are like architects that don’t have to abide by the building laws,” said Mr. Wasco. (wsj.com) A few of their other films include “Jackie Brown” (1997), “Rushmore” (1998), “Bounce” (2000), “Kill Bill: Vol. 1” (2003), “Kill Bill: Vol. 2” (2004), “Collateral” (2004), “Stop-Loss” (2008), “Redbelt” (2008), “Inglourious Basterds” (2009), “Rampart” (2011), “Seven Psychopaths” (2012), “La La Land” ( 2016) and “Molly’s Game” (2017).
Sandy Reynolds-Wasco on “The Royal Tenenbaums”
“Even what never appears in the frame can influence the actor’s performance, so it all counts, it all has to be truthful, or at least truth-y. And sometimes the place is a character unto itself. The family brownstone in ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ is a perfect example. The story called for a set that expressed the eccentric inner lives of the family, as well as of New York City itself. In fact, the set decor in that film received almost as much attention as the cast; it was included in the Cooper-Hewitt Museum’s 2003 National Design Triennial. It was owned by a couple, Gabby and Michael Boyd, who are among the most important collectors and conservators of mid-century modern architecture in the country. They owned this house but it was no museum—it was being lived in. We used their young son’s real-life space-rocket sheets in the film for Luke Wilson’s character. They sort of made sense in that room somehow, in a way that was authentic and quirky and fundamentally human.” (believermag.com)
David Wasco on Wes Anderson and “The Royal Tenenbaums”
“He loves Manhattan, and he is smitten with the architecture,” says production designer David Wasco, who has worked on all three Anderson movies. But since the director wanted to make the world of “The Royal Tenenbaums” his own, he chose to avoid the more familiar iconographic views of the city. Says Wasco of the film…“It’s a wonderful, magical tip of the hat to New York, but not hit-you-over-the-head New York.”…“Traditionally, I talk about things with the director, and then I go off and carry out the ideas,” says Wasco. “But in Wes’ case, even when you’ve got your actors coming onboard and time is limited, he still would be in the art department every day. He’s visually a very smart guy, and he’s actually a pretty good sketch artist himself. I’m accustomed to being asked to help create a backdrop, to help tell the story, but this was taken beyond that, into a whole stylized world.” The most important piece of this world is the Tenenbaum house, a multi-story manse with pink walls and whimsical set decoration ranging from African masks to a pitched tent in one of the rooms. “As with ‘Rushmore,’ where we went to a lot of trouble to find the school, here we went through a lot of trouble to find the house,” says Wasco, whose wife, Sandy Reynolds-Wasco, was set decorator. “We could have gone to Toronto, and done a less expensive New York — looking movie. But Wes was really set on the atmosphere Manhattan gave.” Anderson was willing, however, to look far and wide in the borough, and he eventually located his house at 144th St. and Convent Ave., in the architecturally quirky pocket of Harlem called Hamilton Heights. “It was an unaltered mini-mansion designed by Adolph Hoak in the 1880s,” says Wasco of the chosen house. “Hoak did this eclectic mix-match of facades with different architectural elements on the block, almost like a Disneyland blend of facades. Our house was about 60% intact, with Tiffany windows and things that would have been pulled out if it were in a part of the city that was gentrified. A young family had just bought the house, and we were supposed to work in concert with their architect, but I got them to hold off on their work, because it would have been too chaotic. It was almost derelict; we made it safe, replicated molding elements that were missing, added a few doorways, and added the doors and molding to the little phone booth under the stairs. We also added a Victorian fence around the roof to tie in with some of the other roofs. We had it for six months, and the owners ended up getting a restored house.”
The warm pink color of the house’s walls was arrived at through a number of camera tests, says Wasco. “We ended up repainting the whole house a couple of times to get it right. There wasn’t any heavy meaning to the color, it was just something Wes wanted to go with.” Wasco saw to it that the children’s bedrooms in the Tenenbaum house were as tailor-made as their clothes. Margot’s walls are papered with a zebra print the designer borrowed from an Upper East Side Italian restaurant, and her room is decorated with set models from her plays. Chas’ space is not only a bedroom but a working office, while the blue walls in dreamy Richie’s room are studded with paintings of Margot and with other Saul Steinberg — style illustrations. “Eric Anderson did these as little thumbnail sketches, which were blown up by the scenery department and painted right on fabric, and then glued to the wall,” says Wasco…Apart from choosing unconventional locations, the art department helped to subtly alter the Manhattan cityscape by designing their own car license plates and, indeed, street signs “that were a variation on the old yellow, camel-bump Manhattan street signs.” Like the buttons on the characters’ clothes, like the paint colors on the walls, such details were compiled as part of what Wasco calls “an anguished, painstaking process.” Despite the film’s lightness of spirit, its distinctive, unified aesthetic apparently didn’t come easily. Says the designer, “All of that was carefully created, and then redone if it wasn’t right.” (livedesignonline.com)
About Director and Co-Writer Wes Anderson
Wes Anderson was born in Houston, Texas. He is a director and screenwriter known for the distinctive visual aesthetic of his quirky comedies and for his collaboration with screenwriter and actor Owen Wilson. Anderson and Wilson met while both were students at the University of Texas at Austin, and their working relationship began even prior to Anderson’s 1991 graduation with a degree in philosophy. Together they wrote the script for a short film called “Bottle Rocket” (1994), which was directed by Anderson and featured performances by Wilson and his brother Luke Wilson. The short film came to the attention of director and producer James L. Brooks, who sponsored a full-length version of the story. Retaining its title and cast, “Bottle Rocket” (1996) became Anderson’s first feature film. Anderson and Wilson next co-wrote “Rushmore” (1998), which starred Jason Schwartzman as an indefatigable prep-school student and Bill Murray as his wealthy benefactor and sometime foe. Anderson’s third collaboration with Wilson, “The Royal Tenenbaums” (2001), was a darkly comic exploration of the dysfunctional adulthoods of a family of child prodigies. It was also the most visually ornate of Anderson’s films to that point, featuring the carefully composed shots, richly realized sets, and other stylistic flourishes that had become his hallmark. Its big-name cast included Murray, Gene Hackman, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Anjelica Huston in addition to the Wilson brothers, and it earned Anderson and Wilson an Academy Award nomination for best original screenplay.
Anderson’s next directorial effort, “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou” (2004), about a Jacques Cousteau-like adventurer (played by Murray), marked his first screenplay collaboration with writer-director Noah Baumbach. He then directed “The Darjeeling Limited” (2007), which he co-wrote with Schwartzman and actor-screenwriter Roman Coppola. It starred Schwartzman, Owen Wilson, and Adrien Brody as estranged brothers traveling in India by train to visit their mother (Huston) following their father’s death. Anderson turned to stop-motion animation for “Fantastic Mr. Fox” (2009), an adaptation of a book by popular children’s author Roald Dahl. The film, which earned an Oscar nomination for best animated feature, was co-written with Baumbach and featured the voices of Murray, Schwartzman, Owen Wilson, George Clooney, and Meryl Streep. Despite the challenges of the medium, its settings were as detailed and rich as those of any of Anderson’s live-action films. With “Moonrise Kingdom” (2012), Anderson presented a gently humorous story of adolescent love set in a small New England town in the 1960s, and its screenplay, co-written with Coppola, landed him another Oscar nomination. “The Grand Budapest Hotel” (2014) is a series of conjoined interludes relating to the denizens and employees of the titular caravansary, a sprawling pink monstrosity located in a fictional eastern European country. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for best picture. Anderson earned nods for his work writing and directing the film as well. Anderson returned to stop-motion animation for “Isle of Dogs” (2018)…Anderson’s other projects included the interior design for “Bar Luce” (2015), a café located in the Fondazione Prada, a cultural institution in Milan. He also curated the exhibition “Spitzmaus Mummy in a Coffin and Other Treasures,” with his partner, writer and designer Juman Malouf, at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. The show opened in 2018 and showcased an extraordinary number of often-overlooked objects from the museum’s collection. (britannica.com)