The Darjeeling Limited
Directed by Wes Anderson
Fox Searchlight 2007
By Ian Passy
Author’s Note: At this moment, I am sitting here wrestling with myself, trying to determine what exactly I thought of Wes Anderson’s new film The Darjeeling Limited. Part of the problem is that I saw it a couple of weeks ago and, due to many factors (mainly laziness and apathy) I am only now bothering to put my thoughts into words. Unfortunately, my memory has deteriorated slightly, so I feel I should mention upfront that if I confuse characters, events, themes or whatever other filmic elements that make up Darjeeling with another film such as Zabriskie Point, or perhaps even my own life, I apologize…
The Darjeeling Limited is the latest film by Wes Anderson, a director who produces pretty solid films (even The Life Aquatic); especially compared to most other movies out there. In a lot of ways The Darjeeling Limited plays out like a typical Wes Anderson film. It’s highly stylized, the characters are quirky, the narrative is meandering, and the director’s palette of pastels are all present here. Also present are the awkward, tense and mutually suspicious familial relationships upon which Anderson enjoys to muse. All this is not necessarily a bad thing; Anderson is a still young director that knows enough to play to his strengths. He knows that this way, he can satisfy his presumably-growing “niche” audience as well as the almighty producers that give him those sacks of money saying, “Go on, Wes, have at it! Be so kind as to bang out another one of your hip pseudo art house Hollywood Indie films that those college kids love so much. When it’s all said in done, we’ll both have enough for two new boats each — we can race them!”
This time around, Wes has set up shop in Middle of Nowhere, India, where three estranged brothers find themselves together again for the first time in a year. Francis (Owen Wilson)— the eldest and slightly controlling brother— has summoned Jack (Jason Schwartzman) and Peter (Adrien Brody) to a month long journey through India to reconnect after the death of their father. It is supposed to be a spiritual journey where the brothers find themselves and each other. But thanks to the time and distance these characters have spent apart, this forced familiarity proves a lot to handle. Things do not go as planned, and the brothers bicker with each other endlessly as a cloud of deceit and mistrust swells overhead. Eventually, things boil over and they find themselves stranded in the both literal and figurative middle of nowhere.
I do not know if my description of the film makes it sound interesting, but for the most part, it is. The characters play off each other very well, apparently echoing the real life writers of the film’s script: Anderson, Schwartzman, and Roman, a Coppola I have never heard of before seeing this film. The dialogue at times feels a little stiff, but is still well executed by the actors. Although Anderson does well to show the brothers as individual people with traits, flaws, dreams and insecurities, towards the end of the film I found it difficult to relate to them. I got the impression that they were sort of privileged kids from an affluent family who never seemed able to grow up. They cannot act their age and would rather just coast on their dead father’s wealth, allowing for whimsical and quirky lives. While I found myself laughing at their follies throughout their journey, I never was really to sympathize with the brothers because they just generally came across as spoiled, whiny brats.
I suppose then, the three brothers are film’s greatest asset and flaw. Being the main characters in a character driven narrative, this is somewhat unavoidable. I think Wes Anderson needs to collaborate writing scripts with Owen Wilson again, because Schwartzman and that Coppola guy, despite valiant efforts, falter slightly with this script. Unfortunately, I just got sick of listening to rich people be selfish and obnoxious and complain about nothing all that important, which is a shame, as the other filmic elements are quite strong, in many instances making up for the weaker points. The mis-en-scène of The Darjeeling Limited is quite good, as it is in other Anderson films. The colours, the shots, the settings, the soundtrack all add to a stylized but not too absurd look and feel. I enjoyed the acting despite the script and character issues. The performances are well done, making the characters more convincing. I truly believe in my heart of hearts that Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, and Adrian Brody were all affluent, emotionally immature, selfish pricks.
In the end, the somewhat unsympathetic and inaccessible main characters are my only real issue with the film, and it is not a complete deal-breaker. The Darjeeling Limited is still worth seeing, even if you hate the main characters as much as I did. For me the most interesting part is to see what Wes Anderson conjures up next. Despite The Darjeeling Limited being good, I think his best film is still yet to come.
