Anderson's Tale: the "Phoenician Scheme" presented in Cannes

The fresh full meter of Wes Anderson at the Cannes Film Festival was accompanied by a typical landing of celebrities for the director. Bill Murray, Benedict Cumberbatch, Benicio del Toro, Michael Cera, Riz Ahmed and Richard Ayoade came to support the film. But the attention of the Russian press was focused on Mark Edelstein, who came to the premiere of the film, so there were already suggestions that the Russian actor could star in Anderson's new film. Izvestia has seen the painting "The Phoenician Scheme" and is sharing its first impressions.

Who plays in the movie "The Phoenician Scheme"

For any film festival in the world, getting a Wes Anderson film into the program is hitting the jackpot. Moreover, the quality of the painting itself does not matter. The fact is that for many years Anderson has been making films in which the star cast is not inferior to Marvel's "The Avengers", and if at least some of the stars come to the festival, this already guarantees a huge interest from the public — including those who believe that Wes Anderson, Paul Thomas Anderson and Paul W.S. Anderson — it's the same person.

It was the same this time. The "Phoenician scheme" is, in addition to the superstars listed above, Tom Hanks and Bryan Cranston, whose characters in the film arrange a basketball master class. And Scarlett Johansson, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Mathieu Amalric. And the new universal favorite from that moment on, the female lead Mia Tripleton. She used to act in movies, but she was treated like "Kate Winslet's daughter", no more. And here she works in tandem with del Toro and Sera, not inferior to them in energy and charisma. So now she will be a guest at luxury festivals, all thanks to Anderson. That's why everyone is so eager to star in it, and it's obviously not for nothing that Mark Edelstein appeared on the red carpet.

—The set of Wes Anderson is just a charming place, a place of special aesthetics and limitations," Cumberbatch reflected at a press conference. — These are not only limitations, but also a kind of Zen discipline in discarding everything that you think you should have done with the character. Wes has everything covered. And you just give yourself up to it. This time, the role was very physical and just crazy. With an explosion and a fight. It was a very short job, but playing with Benicio was very new and wonderful, and Michael Cera only needs one line in this scene to share it with him completely.

How the movie "The Phoenician Scheme" turned out

As for the painting itself, it is worth saying that there were no surprises. In the sense that Wes Anderson has found a certain balance in recent years and has not moved anywhere from it, has not taken risks and has not opened any new territories, perhaps, since the days of the "Island of Dogs". Everything we saw after it looks like one long movie series, absolutely perfect in form and content, superbly played, with subtle humor and unexpected twists, but at the same time always leaving you in your comfort zone.

Therefore, it all depends on whether the viewer likes Wes Anderson or not, that is, the question is purely a matter of taste, like the Prague cake, California sushi, Margarita pizza or herring under a fur coat. Maybe the comparison is not entirely correct, because Anderson does not make fast food, but Michelin-starred delicacies, but the fact is that those who do not like Anderson are frankly bored at the "Phoenician scheme", while others react as if they were meeting an old friend. It happens at festivals. There are friends you only meet there and you know that you will definitely have a nice conversation. And there are favorite directors who bring about the same thing from year to year, but they are still welcome. And Anderson's actors are always about the same, and the main news is usually who joined the ensemble. This time, the newcomers are Michael Cera and Mia Tripleton. Most likely, we will see them in the next picture too, few people leave Anderson.

—Even before that, Wes offered me a small role in Asteroid City, his last film," says Michael Cera. — Unfortunately, I couldn't play it because our dates didn't match. And it was heartbreakingly, heartbreakingly insulting. Since then, I've been worried that Wes would somehow resent me and not invite me back. But no, the invitation came, and I redeemed myself tenfold.

"The Phoenician Scheme" is, as often happens with Anderson, a journey film in which there are chases, shootouts, fights and adventures, which makes it possible to meet many new characters, sometimes literally for a few seconds, even if they are superstars. The main character is millionaire entrepreneur Korda, played by Benicio del Toro. Korda is involved in fraud all over the world, someone is always trying to kill him, but he always gets away with it. This time, however, he is alarmed: visions of the Last Judgment began to visit him, so Korda decides to leave the inheritance to his young daughter (Mia Tripleton). The whole story is about Korda handing over her business, while simultaneously solving another serious financial issue on a global scale. On their journey, they are accompanied by a strange entomologist, Bjorn, whom Michael Cera plays as if he were parodying a young von Trier.

The composition is announced in advance by a set of shoe boxes, where Korda sorted his documents, according to which Anderson divides the story into chapters, as in the novel. The characters will be thrown from one country to another, the whirlpool of hilarious and hooligan absurdity will increase, but everything will remain approximately in the same form that we are used to. That is, the symmetrically arranged shots, the deliberate theatricality of the action, the conventionality of the characters' behavior, and the warm color scheme. At a press conference after the film, del Toro revealed one of Anderson's secrets: he started the camera in slow motion, but asked the actor to move as fast as possible. And although, as del Toro joked, the result should have been the same as in normal shooting mode, but it turned out exactly the same convention that distinguishes Anderson's films.

— Do you know how the idea of the film came about? I told Benicio Del Toro about her when we were in Cannes, probably four years ago, when the French Bulletin was shown here," says Anderson. "I said to Benicio, 'You know, there's something I hope you'll find interesting. I think you're going to do something." But at the beginning of the movie, it was just him, just his image, I didn't know what would happen next, I just knew this character, that he was inexorably moving through this story, and it was impossible to kill him. Thomas Stoppard used to say that every time he writes a play, he doesn't have an idea for the play. He has two people who don't seem to have anything in common with each other, but they meet, and that's where the action begins. And it seems to me that this has always been the case with me. I want to make a movie on a train, and I want to make a movie in India, and it's going somewhere.

Anderson's chances of winning the main award this time are negligible, precisely because this is a very typical movie for him. But for a reason, this is one of the most popular directors in the world, and his fans are getting more and more with each picture. It's just that Anderson has reached such a level of perfection that either he doesn't know what else to do, or he doesn't want to deprive himself of the pleasure of doing exactly what he does best. A movie that is recognizable from the first frame, a model of harmony, irony and intelligence — all that is becoming rarer and rarer every day. And if Mark Edelstein integrates into this universe, then the next picture will have a much better chance of being released in Russia.