Culture
Now Playing – In ‘The Phoenician Scheme’ Wes Anderson gives us a charming caper about a tycoon and a nun on the run
By: Gordon Briggs
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At this point in his career, after a dozen or so different movies, you are probably aware of Wes Anderson’s style. When I watch one of these movies I always look for one scene that cuts through the whimsy and visual eccentricities and shows the characters’ humanity. Luckily, there are several in his new film The Phoenician Scheme.
For my money, the last couple of Wes Anderson films have been overpopulated and twee. However, despite those personal gripes, I’ve always found his visual style, which leans heavily on boxes and dioramas, to be unique and unmistakably his own. Thankfully, with The Phoenician Scheme, we get a movie that feels more focused and more concerned with the character’s emotions and not just with a puzzle box structure.
Here, a wealthy tycoon with a criminal past, Zsa-zsa Korda (Benicio Del Toro) appoints his only daughter, a nun, (Mia Threapleton) as sole heir to his estate (Del Toro’s character arc is similar to that of the titular Royal Tenenbaum from the film The Royal Tenenbaums, the dying patriarch from Anderson’s previous film played with memorable glee by the late Gene Hackman).
As the two embark on a new and potentially illegal enterprise, they soon become the target of foreign terrorists, angry former colleagues, and determined assassins eager to kill Korda. As Del Toro and Threapleton survive multiple plane crashes and dodge all manner of would-be assassins, the film starts to resemble a pseudo-James Bond picture. Seeing Anderson, with his penchant for meticulous symmetry and tableau-style compositions, trying to handle action scenes is funnier than I thought it would be.
Example: I dig how Del Toro’s character offers people hand grenades as if he were offering them a glass of water.
Visuals aside, I think this film works because of its focus on the relationship between this corrupt man and his daughter. As expected, the scenes between them start off very deadpan but slowly give way to genuine moments of sincerity. While other Anderson movies can suffocate under all their intricate layers, I appreciate how the second layer that runs throughout The Phoenician Scheme feels more focused. Specifically, Korda’s quest is interspersed with visions of the afterlife, where the character must stand trial for his past deeds (including one scene in which Bill Murray plays God).
Those visions aren’t just bits of whimsy. They also arouse fear and trigger Korda into developing a sort of conscience.
Those are the moments where the story hit me with its primary thesis: are we just who other people say we are? Or is redemption from our past possible, even for the worst of us?
Rating: ★★★1⁄2
Now Playing is a column by film scholar Dr. Gordon Briggs published each Tuesday and Thursday. Tuesday’s column focuses on recently released film, followed by a Thursday piece that offers historical context or explores a related film.