The grand Budapest Hotel

Wes Anderson likes to call his movie The grand Budapest Hotel a homage to the Austrian writer Stephan Zweig. Both writers share grand similarities, with themes like humor, aesthetics and a sense of tranquility and peace. With a great portion of comedy in 1930s Europe, Anderson adapts to Zweig’s style and creates a world of it’s own in the movie.

Zweig’s books are mostly described very colorfully and he does not shy away from unsympathetic characters or unpleasant subjects.

When I compare Anderson’s movie to Zweig’s writing, it is just as colorful and magical. The filmmaker uses a specific type of color palette, lot’s of pastels, pinks and purples, almost seems like a dream like setting for a very personal genre – 1965 Vienna, Austria.

Zweig was in love with Vienna and it’s romantic and poetic European culture. He lived in the 8^th district in Josefstadt in a small apartment and lived and breathed the Viennese life style at the time.

I used to attend Art History classes at the University of Vienna, which is located only a couple minutes away from Zweig’s old apartment, not too long ago and felt the same way about the city. I believe the music, the painters, sculptors, and architects make a huge impact in a person’s life and will turn you towards poetic, humorist but also critical thinking which Anderson definitely was inspired and impacted by reading Zweig’s pieces.