‘THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME’ Review: Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Farce

Courtney Howard // Film Critic

THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME

Rated R, 1 hour and 48 minutes

Directed by: Wes Anderson

Starring: Benicio Del Toro, Mia Threapleton, Michael Cera, Riz Ahmed, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Mathieu Amalric, Richard Ayoade, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rupert Friend, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Willem Dafoe, Bill Murray

Perhaps what is most striking about Wes Anderson’s THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME is how hopeful, poignant and resounding a tale it is at its core, despite all its hipster-appealing artifice. But then again, why deliberately create that schism as the style is part and parcel of the auteur’s lively farce. His practically trademarked aesthetic is at its most amusingly incisive and aspirationally Looney Tunes.

Centered on a blowhard billionaire who grows a conscience when he brings his estranged daughter into the fold during an absurdly convoluted business operation, the picture plays like a bedtime story for the world-weary. Anderson builds an immersive, absurdist fantasy with masterful ease – a whimsical world where small-minded leaders experience changes of heart, rebel voices are respectfully heard and religious institutions are transparent. Set mostly to classical compositions that give this rhapsodic child’s play a sense of spirited urgency, the film is a sheer delight.

Curt, cold and calculating businessman Zsa-zsa Korda (Benicio Del Toro) is someone most folks would rather see dead than alive. Yet he somehow continues to survive and thrive after multiple assassination attempts by his clever competition, hired hitmen and a sundry of slippery bedfellows. A recent deadly plane crash has caused this soulless narcissist to take stock of his life and ask his only daughter Liesl (Mia Threapleton) to abandon her Catholic novitiate status to become sole heir to his estate. Though she’s heard wild rumors that he had her mom killed long ago, she reluctantly agrees to his deal on a trial basis in order to find out the truth and get to know the man to whom she’s allegedly related.

Before Liesl signs Korda’s binding contract, she’s to shadow her father, who’s globe-trotting to raise capital for an ambitious, history-making power project. He’s in desperate need of financiers to close the gaps in funding, leading him to friends and foes like Prince Farouk (Riz Ahmed), Leland (Tom Hanks), Reagan (Bryan Cranston), Marseille Bob (Mathieu Amalric), Sergio (Richard Ayoade), Captain Marty (Jeffrey Wright), Cousin Hilda (Scarlett Johansson) and Uncle Nubar (Benedict Cumberbatch). As they travel from place to place, Korda softens to Liesl’s requests for him to institute ethical workplace practices as she softens to the advances of her father’s private tutor Bjorn (Michael Cera). But as their adventure continues, proving dangerous at every stop, it’s in destiny’s hands whether or not Korda will be able to pull off his grandest scheme yet: earning his redemption and setting his conscience right.

There’s nobody out there doing “Bad Dad” movies like Anderson. There’s a zesty humor and covertly heartrending charm to the delivery and packaging. THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME slots nicely into that pantheon next to THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS and FANTASTIC MR. FOX, which also feature fathers setting aside their maverick manners for their kids’ benefit, in addition to earning personal redemption and reclamation. That’s not to say the material ever feels recycled or refurbished. It doesn’t. These themes threaded throughout the director’s work are continually evolving and dynamically explored, now molded into a more contemplative form.

As artists tend to do, Anderson creatively cloaks his protagonist’s quest towards life-changing self-realization in cheeky whimsy. There’s the straight-forward, surface read of the picture’s hijinks and hilarity, which work to great effect. However, the story’s meta-context plays fairly prominently as there are parallels between a businessman arguing with cantankerous tycoons and filmmakers haggling for money from studios. Korda’s soul-rattling existential crisis – exemplified in the zany Ingmar Bergman-esque dream asides set at Heaven’s pearly gates starring Willem Dafoe, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Bill Murray (audaciously playing God) – is emotionally eviscerating, mixing light touches of humor and heartache.

Since the dialogue is precisely drawn by Anderson, working from a story also by Roman Coppola, the performances are delivered with a similar exacting aim. Del Toro makes an artform out of saying the line, “What?! What?! What?!,” sharply pronouncing each and every syllable and consonant in the word. The character’s antagonistic incredulity and forthrightness come off as endearing in the actor’s capable hands. Threapleton’s droll delivery is impeccably hilarious. She a true revelation, turning in star-making work. The tiny Norwegian voice that Cera adopts to suit his meek, on-call teacher is brilliant. There’s a fun second-half reveal with his character that showcases a maturity we’ve never seen from him before on-screen.

On the crafts side, Alexandre Desplat’s original score mixes nicely in a cohesive sonic palette with classical works from Mozart, Bach and Stravinsky. The soundtrack shapes the proceedings into a Mel Blanc-like homage, augmenting cartoonish actions in fight scenes and the narrative’s comedy stylings. Production designer Adam Stockhausen gifts the ensemble with a character-rich, animation-adjacent playground in which to interact. Korda’s airplane interiors, the marbled mausoleum he calls home, and Marseille Bob’s art deco nightclub are all indelible environments. Cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel’s lighting, particular in the black and white heavenly judgement sequences, is textured in a filmic language of grit and grain.

While the Wes Anderson of BOTTLE ROCKET acclaim might not recognize the Wes Anderson of our current era, his ability to rack focus on colorful characters and their conflicts remains unmistakably unique.

Grade: 4.5 out of 5

THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME opens in limited release on May 30 and wide release on June 6.