Jul 17th 1-2-3: The Phoenician Scheme - Crafting On-Screen Magic
It has been a week of movies for me.
I have seen quite a few new and older films, and amongst those was the new Wes Anderson film, The Phoenician Scheme.
In perhaps his most personal film yet, Anderson has managed to blend his real life experiences along with his signature visual design in order to deliver a story that is emotionally more resonate that most of his films.
So what is the story behind The Phoenician Scheme?
1: Crafting On-Screen Magic ( 4 minute read )
An assassination attempt in a plane and the beginnings of the newest Wes Anderson film is well underway. Squared off blocking and lateral camera movements are all present, however there is an unusual level of violence has replaced Anderson’s signature whimsy and colorful aesthetic.
This is The Phoenician Scheme, a film that is perhaps Anderson’s most personal and violent film yet.
Going back to June of 2003, Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola (yes, the son of Francis Ford Coppola of Godfather and Apocalypse Now fame) have completed the script for The Phoenician Scheme prior to the WGA and SAF-AFTRA strikes that affected Hollywood.
This character focused “three-hander” was a story centered around a father and a daughter reconciling through espionage and under-handed business dealings.
More than that, however, this film was a meditation on legacy.
For Anderson, the death of his Lebanese father-in-law, Fouad Malouf, informed not only the themes of the film but also meticulous details such as the “shoeboxes” used for archival purposes by Benicio Del Toro’s character, Anatole “Zsa-Zsa” Korda.
Life can throw a lot at you unexpectedly, and there is oftentimes no better way to process and honor those that have passed but through art.
“It’s a conversation with himself about what it means to be both successful and decent.” - Wes Anderson
— RogerEbert.com
The protaganist. Anatole Zsa-Zsa” Korda is a wealthy and morally conflicted magnate looking to reconnect with his daughter amid assassination attempts, business dealings, and spiritual reckoning.
This sets up for some new scenarios and creative opportunities for a Wes Anderson film, namely violence and his visual design as a narrative character to support the emotionally grounded story.
Each assassination attempt is crafted with practical effects over CGI - a decision that lends perfectly to the style and visual communication that Anderson is known for.
“Probably an assassin has to craft an assassination just as much as a movie director has to.”
— Wes Anderson, EW
To support further support this, Anderson made stylistic choices in order to create a more intimate, less manicured feeling. This was accomplished on a technical level by shooting on 35mm film in a 1.5:1 aspect ratio - a decision that greatly helped with communicating the inner transformation that Korda goes through throughout the film.
This was also a first time collaboration with cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel (known for Amelie, along with directors such as the Coen Brothers and Tim Burton).
Bringing Bruno along helped offset the whimsical nature that is typically found in Wes Anderson’s films and replaced it with a perfect amount of grit.
“The first mental image I had of his character, he was bloody and bruised… being hit with violence and he was responding with, ‘I’m gonna punch right through this.’” - Wes Anderson
Each scene and location was a character in and of itself, lending to the utterly memorable scenes that Anderson is so known for crafting.
Likewise, each explosion or gunshot was described by Anderson as “a little magic trick”, more choreography than chaos. This results in creating cinematic dioramas where there is meaning in every prop, color, and camera movement.
This tone and changes also perfectly encapsulated the new theological elements, covering topics such as sin and forgiveness.
Wrapping this up was an excellent soundtrack by Alexandre Desplat, creating a baroque auditory environment to frame all of Anderson’s signature wit, theatricality along with all the new personal elements to make for a film in his body of work that stands apart from the rest.
Anderson can often be considered emotionally distant, however with The Phoenician Scheme his own personal loss paved the way for a new marriage of heart and aesthetic that created not only an experimental departure, but a spiritual evolution for Anderson.
As most Wes Anderson fans all agree, his visuals are always of utter delights. This time there is also vulnerability.
2: Creative Prompts From Us (ex. Write a short story, a poem, a song, or draw a quick illustration of these! Let your imagination run free.)
I. What can you mine from your own life and hardships to use as inspiration to create something new for you?
II. Repeat step one daily until death do you part.
3: Inspirational Quotes From Wes Anderson
I. “We thought that this violence is expressed almost like little magic tricks… it ought to be sort of delighting the audience to see these terrible things that happen.”
II. “I hope this doesn’t sound wrong, but we were looking for some sort of delight in every literal or metaphorical explosion.”
III. “Your imagination is responding to whatever the stimuli in the world is.”
Thank you so much for reading!