BIG SCREEN: This weekend we’re watching: The French Dispatch – a Wes Anderson in its optimal form

Wes Anderson’s greatest asset is also his most frequent source of criticism – his films feel the same. Anderson is an auteur, which is to say that his works are highly recognisable by the distinctive style he has cultivated.

The first story is a travelogue of the grittier parts of Ennui by The Cycling Reporter who reads his article to the camera while touring the cobbled streets of the old city. Already in this first story, Anderson sates his fascination with period architecture; sculpting the ageing stone of Ennui over 250 years into an idealised caricature of France with both the quaintness of its narrow alleys and grandeur of its ancient cathedrals.

These details are as unnecessary as they are charming and funny. Anderson’s films are packed with Easter eggs that are intended to be easy to notice – making a viewer feel included in the joke. He plays fast and loose with the contract between director and audience – the fourth wall is easily broken, impossible things take place without explanation, and the set can be manipulated and changed on camera for dramatic effect.

: Tilda Swinton, Lois Smith, Adrien Brody, Henry Winkler and Bob Balaban in the film THE FRENCH DISPATCH. Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2020 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved Remember the mannequin challenge, the viral video trend wherein people would pose in action as if they were mannequins and the camera would move around them? Anderson takes up the challenge as a device throughout the film. He could easily have preserved the illusion of realism by using CGI to freeze his actors in action, but he chooses not to, simply because it’s less fun.

Timothée Chalamet and Lyna Khoudri in the film THE FRENCH DISPATCH. Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2021 20th Century Studios All Rights Reserved

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