The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

Directed by: Wes Anderson | 109 minutes | drama, comedy | Actors: Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, Danny Glover, Bill Murray, Alec Baldwin, Seymour Cassell, Kumar Pallana, Grant Rosenmeyer, Jonah Meyerson, Aram Aslanian-Persico, Irene Gorovaia

Filmmaker Wes Anderson is an expert at making quirky films. From an early age he became the darling of the press with his films ‘Bottle Rocket’ (1995) and especially ‘Rushmore’ (1998). It is difficult to maintain such a high level and to continue to meet expectations. The two successors of ‘Rushmore’ were ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ (2001) and ‘The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou’. For both films, Anderson could count on an impressive cast, including Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Danny Glover, Bill Murray, Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Stiller. ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ also meant a commercial breakthrough for the talented director, although this bizarre family is really a bit too weird for the average American.

Royal and Etheline Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman and Anjelica Huston) once formed a model family with their three genius children. The eldest, Chas (Ben Stiller), started out in real estate as a teenager and seemed well on his way to a successful career in the international financial market. Adopted daughter Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow) was a celebrated playwright at age 12, and youngest son Richie (Luke Wilson) was one of America’s greatest tennis talents, winning many awards at a young age. However, the happiness did not last long. When the unruly Royal abandoned his wife and children overnight, things quickly went downhill for the family. Chas lost his wife in a plane crash and has since seen danger in everything for him and his two young sons. Margot is manic-depressive and unhappy in her marriage to the dull and much older psychologist Raleigh St. Clair (Bill Murray). And Richie had a nervous breakdown on the tennis court and has been sailing the world alone ever since, secretly longing for his great love: his sister.

The only one who seems happy is mother Etheline, who is proposed to by family friend Henry Sherman (Danny Glover). When Royal gets wind of this, he rushes back to his family. He claims to be seriously ill and soon manages to regain a place in the house. As always, he rows against the current in his own way, but gradually he is confronted with the damage he has caused all these years. Feeling guilty, he tries to undo the past. An impossible case, but he still does everything he can to make something of it.

Anderson co-wrote the script with Owen Wilson. The insufferable actor also has a role in the film, as the boy next door Eli, who has his own worries. Ideally, this semi-successful novelist would like to be a Tenenbaum himself. The tone of ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ is tragicomic. At the beginning, when everything is still fine in the family, the tone is light-hearted and smooth (Anderson treats us to a hilarious and fleeting summary of the family history). As things go less well with the Tenenbaums, the atmosphere of the film also changes. It all gets darker, more melancholic and slower. The humor remains, but is much darker than in the beginning and fixes on the neuroses, fears and frustrations that modern society brings with it. A special shift, which surprisingly works. Although fans of the other work of Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson may not appreciate this film. Anderson and Wilson earned an Oscar nomination for their inventive script.

The cast of ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ is impressive. The best performances are given by Gene Hackman as the infantile and tactless Royal and Gwyneth Paltrow as the depressed daughter Margot searching for her own identity. Ben Stiller and Luke Wilson also get quite a lot of screen time but do significantly less with it. It is especially unfortunate that Anjelica Huston, Danny Glover and Bill Murray are no longer in the picture. Fortunately, Murray and Huston would more than make up for that in Anderson’s next film, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. Finally, as always, Owen Wilson gets on the nerves more than he actually adds value. His role might as well have been left out. All these characters are placed in a colourful, almost surrealistic setting that is reminiscent of ‘Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain’. Wonderful contrast to the melancholy that the characters have to contend with!

‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ is not an everyday film. Atmosphere, style and script fit perfectly in this impressive sketch of an anything but your average family. Anyone who does not shy away from a tragicomedy with biting, intelligent humor will be impressed by this special gem.