The latest image from Wes Anderson’s upcoming film The French Dispatch shows actors Timothée Chalamet and Lyna Khoudri together in Anderson’s instantly recognizable style. It’s been a significant wait for new material from Anderson, who last delivered a live-action film in 2014 with multi-Oscar winning hit The Grand Budapest Hotel. The French Dispatch was originally meant to release in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic pushed the date back.
The film takes place in a highly stylized but fictional French city of the past, in which an American magazine operates under the no-nonsense gaze of founding editor Arthur Howitzer Jr. (Bill Murray). The stories that find their way into the magazine make up the main plot of the film itself, allowing for a wide range of characters and incidents. As is typically the case with Anderson’s work, the film boasts an extensive cast of some of the acting world’s greatest talents, including Frances McDormand, Owen Wilson, Lea Seydoux, Christoph Waltz, Saoirse Ronan, Mathieu Amalric, and of course, Lyna Khoudri and Timothée Chalamet. To date, the film has enjoyed strong reviews thanks to its premiere at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, marking it as an audience favorite and a potential Oscar contender.
With well over a month to go before The French Dispatch is officially released, fans are eager for any further insight into the film that they can get. The latest glimpse into Anderson’s highly detailed and symmetrical world comes in the form of a new image courtesy of Fandango. In it, Khoudri and Chalamet can be seen on opposite sides of the frame, backed by a roomful of somewhat incredulous-looking young people. It’s classic Anderson style which fans will recognize from many of the director’s other films.
Exactly what’s taking place in the image is hard to say, but those who have been following news of The French Dispatch over the past year and change will know that one of the film’s three stories centers around the events of student protests that rocked France in May of 1968. Of course, in Anderson’s fictionalized world the protests depicted are far from historically accurate, but the occupation of a university building could be what is taking place in this latest image. Chalamet’s character is student revolutionary Zeffirelli, who finds a love interest in fellow student revolutionary Juliette (Khoudri).
It’s often hard for any film that uses the vignette or portmanteau style of filmmaking to find considerable success. Plenty of films have tried this in the past, often with very mixed results. But in the case of Anderson, his past experience and dedicated following paired with a brilliant cast could certainly make for a major hit. As previously stated, it’s been a long time since audiences were last able to see a live-action Anderson film and The French Dispatch appears to have enough quirk and style to raise it to a critically acclaimed level.
Source: Fandango
