2025 Cannes Film Festival: 'The Phoenician Scheme,' Wes Anderson's intricate film full of humanity
Family, indeed, whether natural or blended, biological or friend based, is Anderson's preferred subject. Dysfunctional by nature, often in Oedipal triangulation, quirky in its developments, ultimately supremely endearing. The mental chaos and absurdity of the resulting situations are contained by a rigorous ordering of the form that encompasses them. This leads to the theory that Anderson became a filmmaker precisely to frame the secret madness that haunts him – a basic Freudian hypothesis that no one is obliged to bet a penny on.
In any case, Anderson frames, organizes, categorizes, symmetrizes, models, automates, enumerates, colors, aligns and squares off a world that wobbles a bit too much for his liking. Frames, boxes, maps, lists, compasses, manuals, signs, diagrams, instructions, old typography, sets and chapter divisions all contribute to the rigorous ordering of things. All that remains is to name them, and Anderson is a genius at this: The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), The Darjeeling Limited (2007), Moonrise Kingdom (2012), The French Dispatch (2021). Who wouldn't want to take a closer look?
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