The French Dispatch – An Entertaining Anthology

The works of writer/director Wes Anderson have transcended the concept of film and have since become their own style which could be attributed to other films that have attempted to implement or pay homage to his signature style. His latest film, The French Dispatch, is unequivocally a Wes Anderson film. Delayed by a year as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this film takes a much different direction than past Anderson films. This ode to journalists and journalism takes an anthology approach to its storytelling. While the film doesn’t quite work as a whole, that aforementioned Anderson style as well as some entertaining vignettes still make it more than worth the watch. Meanwhile, also having an all-star cast behind it obviously doesn’t hurt its case either. To that point, for most audiences, watching the film will surely just as much be trying to point out all the stars as much as it will be enjoying the story. Unfortunately, the former option was the more fun of the two as it will be easy to forget about the underlying storyline which connects it all together.

The French Dispatch tells the story of the titular French magazine through the eyes of its editor Arthur Howitzer, Jr. (Murray) and the journalists working for it. The film takes its anthology approach with the story consisting of a series of vignettes as the journalists of the titular magazine prepare their stories for what would be the final issue. While these vignettes are certainly fun to watch, it was that unifying storyline at the center that was not nearly as strong as the overall flow of the film wasn’t there. Perhaps this was the overambition of trying to establish the sprawling world within the fictional town of Ennui, France where the story is set. Though there was definitely some promise, the film does not go nearly far enough to root it all in an interesting enough way besides some Wes Anderson trademark whimsy. There’s some good to be had there but many will surely be left wanting more.

Nevertheless, the passion amongst the journalists of The French Dispatch and the sense of camaraderie still came through. Be it cycling through the city, profiling a convict painter, following a youth protest, or attending a meal that became something much more, the film had a little bit of everything. If anything, the latter vignette featuring food critic Roebuck Wright (Wright) was the strongest as it had the most going on suffice it to say. Devolving into a kidnapping tale, this storyline was essentially about his journey as a journalist made captivating from the magnetic charisma and screen presence of Wright which easily made Roebuck Wright, the best character.

As mentioned, The French Dispatch has enough style and other weird little touches to place it firmly within the filmography of Wes Anderson. From the beautiful cinematography, production design, costumes, and score, the film feels in line with his recent films. That being said, that style is still an acquired taste so this film is definitely not going to be changing any minds. In the end, none of this would work nearly as well if not for the writing and performances to bring these worlds to life and here, both delivered. The writing was sharp but the performances across the board were stellar as the chemistry of the all-star cast made for a fun dynamic. Of course with so many big names, they may not all get as much of the spotlight though they made use of what they had.

At the end of the day, The French Dispatch is a fun, little character piece that more than fulfils its assignment.

still courtesy of Searchlight Pictures

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.