I want to escape my family, how this Wes Anderson movie will reconcile you with your family
To you students confined at home, maybe applying nail polish like Margot in the Royal Tenenbaums, I understand your distress and irritation. To make this time more pleasant I want to recommend to you a movie that made mine sweeter.
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) is a comedy and drama directed by the iconic Wes Anderson. It is set in New York, mainly in a family house. It depicts a family, the Tenenbaums, that get reunited after several years apart, maybe like your family that quarantined together. The three children of the Tenenbaums used to be geniuses in their fields younger and are now depressed adults that have not succeeded. The main themes of this movie are separation, depression, failure, redemption and the typical ... love. What strikes is how those are expressed in the aesthetic of the scenes.
The first scene where Margot Tenenbaum appears as an adult could be used as an example. Margot is secluded in her apartment's bathroom, depressed, we understand that she had not succeeded. She is cloistered in the bathroom but also in the camera frame. Wes Anderson uses a medium and eye level shot to enables us to be immersed in the scene, bringing a sense of drama. The scene is well balanced. You are closed to Margot but far enough to see the multiple fine details of her environment. There is a sense of comfort in this scene, with the pastel colors, but also of discomfort regarding the position Margot is seating in, and the cold white tiles that surrounds her. Margot has locked herself in this small space with her 'survival kit' made of a television, cigarettes, a phone and a fan. The rest of the world seems to have disappeared. Her husband is desperately trying to come in.
We learn in this movie that any desperate situation can be overcome with the help of others, especially your close relatives. The time you live in can be challenging don't hesitate to reach for help. Light can come from people that are close to you, especially. Margot has her husband which is on the other side of the door, her childhood friend, Eli, with whom she is on the phone and her brother Richie that can't stop thinking about her despite being on the other side of the world. This fantastic movie can help us remember in those dark times to express our love to our close ones and relativized on this moment, knowing that after the rain comes the sun.
Written by Couturier Margot
CINEneeded issue n°45
10.09.20
