The French Dispatch ★★★★✩
Film | Cert: 15 |
WES ANDERSON’S love letter to journalism may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it is one of his most moving, honest and hilariously on the nose films yet. Starring an army of Hollywood’s most recognisable faces, The French Dispatch is co-written by the famously unorthodox director in collaboration with Roman Coppola, Hugo Guiness and his Rushmore star Jason Schwartzman.
The film is set in a fictional French city hilariously named Ennuie-SurBlasé, and brings to life a collection of stories published in a magazine set up by American expat Arthur Howitzer, Jr (Bill Murray).Timothée Chalamet stars in a segment about the events of May 1968 alongside Frances McDormand and French Algerian actress Lyna Khoudri.
Another memorable segment features a truly stunning performance by Jeffrey Wright playing a fictitious version of legendary writer James Baldwin who moved to France in the hope of pursuing a writing career away from the stifling chuckles of American institutional racism.
Some aspects of the film might feel a little too know-it-all, but this isn’t a production for those who are newcomers to Anderson’s brand of comically stylised and overblown characters. It is a joy to watch an array of brilliant actors at the top of their game and a welcome antidote to the worthy dramas put out at this time of the year in the hope of making the award season’s lists.
With many French inside jokes and groan inducing jeu de mots, Anderson has managed to give us not only a love letter to journalism, but also a love letter to French culture, even if his depiction of Frenchness often relies — one suspects deliberately — on hilariously outdated stereotypes.