Exploring Alexandre Desplat’s spell-binding score for ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’
There are few director-composer duos as magical as Wes Anderson and Alexandre Desplat. Beginning their working relationship with Fantastic Mr. Fox in 2009, the two have enjoyed over a decade of cinematic collaboration, carving out endlessly specific and beautiful worlds for viewers to lose themselves in. The two have now worked on six films together – including Anderson’s most recent effort, Asteroid City – and have honed their creative partnership to perfection.
French composer and conductor Desplat is the mind behind an impressive filmography of magnificent scores, from the Academy Award-winning The Shape of Water to Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Little Women. Though he always excels at what he does, Desplat’s best work has often been formed alongside Anderson. The two share a penchant for specificity and magic, both of which are applied to each project they touch, and 2014’s The Grand Budapest Hotel was no exception.
Set in a charmingly pink and symmetrical hotel in the fictional country of Zubrowka, the movie stars Ralph Fiennes as Monsieur Gustave, the hotel’s concierge, and his mentee Zero, played by Tony Revolori. Between a star-studded ensemble cast, Anderson’s characteristic quirky and picturesque cinematography, and a surprisingly funny script, The Grand Budapest Hotel leads viewers into a world of painting theft, hotel employee etiquette, and murder. It’s perhaps Anderson’s most endearing film, enhanced by Desplat’s brilliant score.
The classical score is true to its setting, taking inspiration from music from across the continent. Desplat explained his influences during an interview with Nylon, noting that Anderson’s script had expressed a preference for accompanying sounds from mid-century Mitteleuropa. This led the composer to utilise instruments such as zithers, a series of stringed instruments, balalaikas, a Russian string instrument, and alpenhorns, wooden natural horns that are several metres long. He also recalls using percussion instruments from the East.
Desplat put all of these elements together in a “big, big, big pot”, noting: “When you start mixing them together, it becomes kind of a strange, special, weird sound.” It’s a description that could also be applied to each of Anderson’s works – each one channels the strange and the weird but in a uniquely special and endearing way.
This combination of sounds formed the perfect accompaniment for Gustave and Zero’s adventures through Zubrowka. The score is full of layered, fluttering strings that feel intricately tied to the film’s European setting but also contain otherworldly magic. It’s much like Anderson’s direction. The Grand Budapest may be set in Europe, but in its intricate set design and symmetrical cinematography, it contains an unearthly charm.
Desplat spoke about the process of working with Anderson, which was marked by experimentation and collaboration, sharing, “We’ve always been like children in a toy shop trying to experiment every toy we find and every idea and having fun.” The two played ping pong with their ideas, which was reflected in the playful score. It’s certainly not subtle, but neither is Anderson’s filmmaking.
As a result of their close working relationship and similarities, each intricacy in Desplat’s score is tailored to the world, character, and scene it soundtracks – Mr. Moustafa’s theme is mesmerising and mysterious, while Zero’s theme forms a slightly slower and sparser version of the motif. It reflects the lobby boy’s youth, as well as his eventual takeover from Moustafa as the owner of the Grand Budapest. At times it’s playful to reflect the movie’s humour. At other times, it veers into the eerie and the off-kilter or the emotional, but it’s always right on theme.
Desplat’s score for The Grand Budapest Hotel breathes as much life into the film as Fiennes’ charismatic lead performance or Anderson’s instantly recognisable directing. It’s masterfully tailored, just as spell-binding as Zubrowka itself.
