The movie Wes Anderson said had “perfect tone”
Since making his directorial debut with Bottle Rocket in 1996, Wes Anderson has curated one of the most individual and endearing styles in modern cinema. Between pleasing colour palettes, a penchant for symmetry, and the occasional venture into stop-motion, he has secured his place in the hearts of both cinephiles and casual cinemagoers, the ultimate indie auteur.
Tone almost always seems to lie at the centre of Anderson’s auteurship. In his masterfully crafted cinematography and his quirky, comedic, yet heartfelt storytelling, he always seems concerned with creating an atmosphere and a feeling for viewers. Whether it’s the snowy landscapes of Zubrowka that surround the Grand Budapest Hotel or the warmth of the beloved Fantastic Mr. Fox, Anderson’s tone is always consistent – both within his films and across his discography.
It’s unsurprising, then, that in Anderson’s own watching habits, he seeks that same tonal consistency. His favourite films know no bounds, ranging from Stanley Kubrick’s chilling A Clockwork Orange to Hayao Miyazaki’s comforting and fantastical My Neighbour Totoro, but each of them seeks to create a distinctive tone for cinema-goers. There is one film that Anderson suggested had completely mastered this craft – Ernst Lubitsch’s Trouble in Paradise.
Released in 1932, just two years before the introduction of the Hays Code, Trouble in Paradise follows the con artistry of Lily and Gaston Monescu, played by Miriam Hopkins and Herbert Marshall. Perhaps partly down to its perfect tone, the film sparked the idea of the Lubitsch touch.
Anderson named the film as one of his top five favourites during a conversation with Rotten Tomatoes, showing off his knowledge of the film before noting its tonal perfection. “A great Lubitsch movie,” he began, “Herbert Marshall and Miriam Hopkins. And Samson Raphaelson is the screenwriter; he did several Lubitsch movies. I don’t know if anybody can make a movie like that anymore – that perfect tone, like a ‘souffllé’-type of movie. A confection, I guess.”
In Anderson’s likening of the film to sweet treats like souffllé, it’s easy to see how Lubitsch’s tone influenced some of his own works. While no one may be capable of making a movie quite like Lubitsch anymore, that hasn’t stopped the modern auteur from trying. The spell-binding The Grand Budapest Hotel clearly takes inspiration from Trouble in Paradise, while Anderson’s entire filmography seems to continually claw at that confectionary comparison.
Between his sweet but controlled cinematography and his comedic but complex storytelling, Anderson seems like the modern master of tone. Though he may never be able to exactly emulate the Lubitsch touch, he has forged his own magical and memorable style.
