Latest news with #WesAnderson
Forbes
9 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
A Belle Époque Feast In The Swiss Mountains: Dining At Hotel Victoria Glion
Hotel Victoria, Switzerland Hotel Victoria Perched like a jewel on the shoulder of the mountain, above the shimmering curve of Lake Geneva, the Hotel Victoria Glion rises from the mists of time–a living reverie of Belle Époque grandeur. As our funicular gently scaled the slopes from Montreux, each click of the track seemed to lift us from the modern world and deposit us into an artist's dream of 19th-century Switzerland. High on the mountain above Montreux– close to Rochers-de-Naye–Hotel Victoria has a sense of history combined with a warm family welcome and a one-of-a-kind setting. The village of Glion greeted us with hushed charm, its cobbled stillness hinting at stories whispered between pines and alpine flowers. At the heart of it all stands the Hotel Victoria, more reminiscent of a theatre set than a hotel, with its rose-pink façade and golden yellow accents recalling something plucked from Wes Anderson movie The Grand Budapest Hotel . Upon arrival the hotel you half expect Ralph Fiennes–in character as concierge Monsier Gustave–to answer the door. Indeed, Anderson drew inspiration from Grand Swiss Belle Epoque hotels for his fictional hotel. Hotel Victoria, Glion, Switzerland. Photograph © Sky Sharrock © Sky Sharrock We were welcomed by the hotel's young director Antoine Mittermair who, at the young age of 27, took over the running of the hotel from his father, tasked with carrying its legacy and the spirit of the hotel into the future. Stepping into the lobby was like going back in time to 19th Century Belle Epoque Switzerland, the era of the Grand Hotels: oil paintings softened by age, porcelain vases poised with dignity, and carved furniture that seemed to hum with memory. Art at Hotel Victoria Glion © Sky Sharrock © Sky Sharrock We were guided to the terrace where we sat in antique wicker chairs on the emerald green grass, savouring the fresh mountain air. Before us, Lake Geneva stretched like liquid silver, the town of Montreux below humming faintly with the sounds of the Jazz Festival. A Negroni, perfectly bittered and bright and an Aperol Spritz, kissed by the sun were our opening notes. Hotel Victoria Glion terrace © Sky Sharrock © Sky Sharrock Lunch unfolded as a love letter to Swiss-French cuisine, lovingly created by the chef's steady hand. A chilled and minted Pea Velouté, as light as a breeze, tasted of meadows and first blooms–so delicious and fresh that we asked for the recipe, which was later printed out for us and presented in a beautiful card. No attention to detail was spared. A delicate and refreshing starter of Ceviche de sériole aux pickles was beautifully presented and quickly digested, before the pièce de résistance -Dover sole à la meunière–a symphony of butter and lemon, plated with such care it felt like a travesty to eat it. The Chef–Mr. Gilles Vincent–emerged onto the terrace to greet the guests. Pea Veloute soup at Hotel Victoria Glion © Sky Sharrock © Sky Sharrock Each bite was a delight, each moment on that terrace a postcard to remember, for the delectable food, service and picturesque view. The perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon–or any meal time–on a level with the clouds in the Swiss mountains, in a parallel universe where time stands still and you can take time to savour every mouthful of lovingly prepared food. We felt like we had stepped back in time to a Golden era of fine dining and Belle Epoque design. Classic Swiss dishes on the Hotel Victoria's menu include Sliced veal Zurich style and Châteaubriand with darphin potatoes and seasonal vegetables. Hotel Victoria is one of three Belle Epoque hotels located in Montreux, where the legacy of the artistic movement endures in the region's landscape and architecture. La Belle Époque–translating as "Beautiful Era" in French–refers to a period in French and European history stretching from the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 to the start of World War one in 1914. Hotel Victoria was born in the late 19th century when the Belle Epoque hotel business was flourishing on the Swiss Riviera, as the result of a new architectural movement which influenced architectural trends and, accompanied by technical innovations such as running water and electricity, enabled the construction of grand hotels with bathrooms and lifts–radical and luxurious innovations at the time. Hotel Victoria Glion Terrace © Sky Sharrock © Sky Sharrock Chef Gilles Vincent is a culinary artist, taking care to skilfully combines local produce with seasonal treasures to create classic gourmet masterpieces that are easy on the eye and agreeable to the palette. At Hotel Victoria Glion the classic menu is accompanied by a well-stocked wine cellar, with the staff on hand to suggest perfect pairings of food and wine. There is a sense of nostalgia in this historic family-run hotel, not only in well preserved Belle Epoque design with hints of Art Nouveau, but also in the Chandeliers, silverware and perfectly starched table linen that all add the perfect finishing touches to this hidden gem of a restaurant set amidst a century-old park with a flower garden. Hotel Victoria Cave a Vin Hotel Victoria Hotel Victoria Glion is not merely a hotel–it is an ode. To time, to beauty, to the slow and careful art of living well. To dine there is to slip, if only for an afternoon, into a gentler age.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘I am elated each time I watch': why Rushmore is my feelgood movie
'Let's hope it's got a happy ending,' Herman Blume, played by Bill Murray in one of his best roles, says near the end of Wes Anderson's 1998 film Rushmore. He makes the remark about an over-the-top, literally pyrotechnic school play that his teenage friend Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) has just debuted to an audience of dazed teachers and parents. But his comment stands in for the whole movie, an audacious and risky comedy that should not work, but does. I am elated each time I watch this poignant, wise and wildly funny film – and, yes, there is a happy ending. Rushmore is about children trying to act like adults and adults acting like children. Fischer is a precocious scholarship student at Rushmore, a prestigious private boys' school. He is the sort of bright but naive young person who tries to impress an adult by telling them, with a straight face, that he plans to apply to Oxford and the Sorbonne for university, with Harvard as a 'safety.' In fact, Fischer spends more time planning lavish plays and starting school clubs than studying. He is one of the school's 'worst students,' his headmaster (Brian Cox) sighs. One day Fischer meets Blume, a local industrialist whose sons are students at Rushmore. Blume is a self-hating rich man – his loathing of his boorish, silver-spoon-fed sons is one of the film's many funny running jokes – and he takes a shine to the scrappy Fischer. Despite their difference in age, the two develop a sincere and surprisingly equal friendship. A wrench is thrown into their bromance when Fischer meets Rosemary Cross (Olivia Williams), a new teacher at Rushmore and a recent widow, and develops a powerful crush. In addition to the obvious hurdles – he is a child, and she is not interested – his friend Blume becomes smitten, as well. (Talking to Fischer by cellphone, Blume tries to talk him out of his crush on Rosemary. 'I mean, she's not that beautiful. She's not that intriguing,' he argues, as the camera pans to reveal that he is spying on her through a classroom window.) The two friends spiral into an infantile battle for Rosemary's attention – without, in classic male fashion, having given much thought to her feelings. A love triangle (sort of) between two adults and a teenager is an odd, even uncomfortable, premise for a movie. Rushmore's protagonist, Fischer, is also frankly a bad person: a shameless operator who manipulates people, subjects the exasperated Rosemary to grand and misguided romantic gestures, and acts ruthlessly to realize his overambitious projects. (Perhaps Anderson is trying to tell us something about auteur filmmakers?) There's a version of Rushmore that reads like Fatal Attraction; it is a testament to the film's intelligence that it instead bubbles over with charm, warmth, and emotional observation. I first watched Rushmore in high school, when I was old enough to appreciate the movie but not really to fully understand it. It was recommended by a friend who had a touch of Fischer to him, and perhaps saw a touch in me, too. Watching the movie, I had a strange shock of recognition: not just 'Where has this been all my life?' but 'How is it that some people I've never met made something perfectly tailored to my sensibilities?' Of course, a good film offers more, not less, each time you watch it. I've come back to Rushmore again and again, and each time I catch things – jokes, call-backs, themes, smart symmetries and flourishes – that I hadn't noticed before. The film is the best of Anderson's quirky vision, without an overindulgence in the aspects of his style that can be grating or 'twee,' to cite a common criticism. One reason may be the contribution of the actor Owen Wilson, who co-wrote Anderson's first three films (including another fan favorite, The Royal Tenenbaums). I suspect he balanced Anderson's whimsy with a certain groundedness and emotionality. Rushmore is stamped with the famous Anderson aesthetic, but its characters and story also have a realness that his more recent work sometimes lacks. As entertainment, the film gives me sheer pleasure. Yet it is also a profoundly shrewd study of relationships, ego, and growing up, whose emotional maturity is all the more impressive given that Anderson and Wilson started writing it when they were still in their twenties. And the film's iconic soundtrack of British Invasion pop-rock is perfectly chosen, none more so than in the final scene. As characters dance sweetly to Faces' Ooh La La, the lyrics offer a summation: 'I wish that I knew what I know now … When I was younger.' Rushmore is available on Hoopla in the US or to rent digitally in the UK and Australia
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘I am elated each time I watch': why Rushmore is my feelgood movie
'Let's hope it's got a happy ending,' Herman Blume, played by Bill Murray in one of his best roles, says near the end of Wes Anderson's 1998 film Rushmore. He makes the remark about an over-the-top, literally pyrotechnic school play that his teenage friend Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) has just debuted to an audience of dazed teachers and parents. But his comment stands in for the whole movie, an audacious and risky comedy that should not work, but does. I am elated each time I watch this poignant, wise and wildly funny film – and, yes, there is a happy ending. Rushmore is about children trying to act like adults and adults acting like children. Fischer is a precocious scholarship student at Rushmore, a prestigious private boys' school. He is the sort of bright but naive young person who tries to impress an adult by telling them, with a straight face, that he plans to apply to Oxford and the Sorbonne for university, with Harvard as a 'safety.' In fact, Fischer spends more time planning lavish plays and starting school clubs than studying. He is one of the school's 'worst students,' his headmaster (Brian Cox) sighs. One day Fischer meets Blume, a local industrialist whose sons are students at Rushmore. Blume is a self-hating rich man – his loathing of his boorish, silver-spoon-fed sons is one of the film's many funny running jokes – and he takes a shine to the scrappy Fischer. Despite their difference in age, the two develop a sincere and surprisingly equal friendship. A wrench is thrown into their bromance when Fischer meets Rosemary Cross (Olivia Williams), a new teacher at Rushmore and a recent widow, and develops a powerful crush. In addition to the obvious hurdles – he is a child, and she is not interested – his friend Blume becomes smitten, as well. (Talking to Fischer by cellphone, Blume tries to talk him out of his crush on Rosemary. 'I mean, she's not that beautiful. She's not that intriguing,' he argues, as the camera pans to reveal that he is spying on her through a classroom window.) The two friends spiral into an infantile battle for Rosemary's attention – without, in classic male fashion, having given much thought to her feelings. A love triangle (sort of) between two adults and a teenager is an odd, even uncomfortable, premise for a movie. Rushmore's protagonist, Fischer, is also frankly a bad person: a shameless operator who manipulates people, subjects the exasperated Rosemary to grand and misguided romantic gestures, and acts ruthlessly to realize his overambitious projects. (Perhaps Anderson is trying to tell us something about auteur filmmakers?) There's a version of Rushmore that reads like Fatal Attraction; it is a testament to the film's intelligence that it instead bubbles over with charm, warmth, and emotional observation. I first watched Rushmore in high school, when I was old enough to appreciate the movie but not really to fully understand it. It was recommended by a friend who had a touch of Fischer to him, and perhaps saw a touch in me, too. Watching the movie, I had a strange shock of recognition: not just 'Where has this been all my life?' but 'How is it that some people I've never met made something perfectly tailored to my sensibilities?' Of course, a good film offers more, not less, each time you watch it. I've come back to Rushmore again and again, and each time I catch things – jokes, call-backs, themes, smart symmetries and flourishes – that I hadn't noticed before. The film is the best of Anderson's quirky vision, without an overindulgence in the aspects of his style that can be grating or 'twee,' to cite a common criticism. One reason may be the contribution of the actor Owen Wilson, who co-wrote Anderson's first three films (including another fan favorite, The Royal Tenenbaums). I suspect he balanced Anderson's whimsy with a certain groundedness and emotionality. Rushmore is stamped with the famous Anderson aesthetic, but its characters and story also have a realness that his more recent work sometimes lacks. As entertainment, the film gives me sheer pleasure. Yet it is also a profoundly shrewd study of relationships, ego, and growing up, whose emotional maturity is all the more impressive given that Anderson and Wilson started writing it when they were still in their twenties. And the film's iconic soundtrack of British Invasion pop-rock is perfectly chosen, none more so than in the final scene. As characters dance sweetly to Faces' Ooh La La, the lyrics offer a summation: 'I wish that I knew what I know now … When I was younger.' Rushmore is available on Hoopla in the US or to rent digitally in the UK and Australia
India.com
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- India.com
Wes Anderson's The Phoenician Scheme OTT Release Date Out
Washington: Critically acclaimed director Wes Anderson's 'The Phoenician Scheme' will begin streaming on Peacock from July 25, reported Deadline. The movie was screened at the Cannes Film Festival and was released in theatres on June 20, 2025, in India. 'The Phoenician Scheme' follows wealthy businessman Zsa-zsa Korda (Benicio del Toro), who is on the run and wanted by myriad governments, the target of scheming tycoons, foreign terrorists and determined assassins. In the midst of chaos, he appoints his estranged and only daughter, a nun (Mia Threapleton), to be the sole heir of his estate. She also gets pulled into his globe-trotting, according to Deadline The pic also stars Michael Cera, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Riz Ahmed, Mathieu Amalric, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Richard Ayoade, Rupert Friend, Hope Davis and Benedict Cumberbatch. 'The Phoenician Scheme' marks Anderson's third movie with Focus Features after 2012's Moonrise Kingdom and Asteroid City. Following a 7 1/2 minute standing ovation in Cannes, The Phoenician Scheme opened limited in NYC and LA during its first weekend to 560K USD (or 93,4K USD opening theatre average, the highest year to date), reported Deadline. According to the outlet, the movie went wide in its second weekend, earning $ 6.2M USD and finishing with a domestic total of $ 19.2M USD, as well as $37.4M worldwide. This was slightly less than the filmmaker's previous project, 'Asteroid City', which posted a first weekend of 853K USD (or 142,2K USD opening theatre average -- the best of 2023) and had a second weekend of 9M USD with a final domestic of 28.1M USD and 53.8M USD worldwide. As per Deadline, critics have praised Del Toro's performance, saying the film "belongs lock, stock and barrel to Benicio Del Toro, playing this Onassis-style billionaire who proves again to be so adept at the rhythms of Anderson's dialogue and delivers flawlessly here." 'The Phoenician Scheme' opened in NYC and LA on May 30, with a wide expansion on June 6.
Forbes
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Wes Anderson's ‘The Phoenician Scheme' Gets Peacock Streaming Date
Michael Cera, Benicio Del Toro and Mia Threapleton in "The Phoenician Scheme." The Phoenician Scheme — Wes Anderson's latest comedy starring Benicio Del Toro, Scarlett Johansson and Bryan Cranston is coming soon to streaming on Peacock. Rated PG-13, The Phoenician Scheme opened in wide release on June 6 and made its debut on digital streaming video via premium video on demand on July 8. The official summary for The Phoenician Scheme reads, 'Anatole 'Zsa-zsa' Korda (Del Toro) is ruthless, unscrupulous and one of the richest men in Europe. 'During the final stages of a vast, decades-long, career-defining business project, Korda survives a sixth assassination attempt and must appoint a successor: his long-estranged daughter Liesl (Mia Threapleton) — a nun. With personal tutor Bjorn (Michael Cera) in tow, the trio set off on a globetrotting adventure to achieve Korda's epic mission. Co-written by Anderson and Roman Coppola, The Phoenician Scheme also stars Tom Hanks, Riz Ahmed, Jeffrey Wright, Rupert Friend, Hope Davis, Imad Mardnli and Benedict Cumberbatch. Peacock announced on Friday that The Phoenician Scheme will begin streaming on its platform on Friday, July 25. Right now, Peacock has an ad-based package available for $7.99 per month or $79 per year and an ad-free package for $13.99 per month or $139.99 yearly. On July 23, however, Peacock's subscription rates are increasing to $10.99 per month and $109.99 per year for ad-based programming and $16.99 per month and $169.99 for ad-free programming. 'The Phoenician Scheme' Began With An Image Wes Anderson Had Of Benicio Del Toro Wes Anderson's The Phoenician Scheme held its world premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival in May. Oddly enough, Anderson told The Hollywood Reporter, he first spoke of the idea with Benicio Del Toro at Cannes in 2021. 'I had an idea that I actually brought up to Benicio at Cannes when we showed The French Dispatch,' Anderson recalled for THR. 'We talked about it briefly, and I didn't really know what it was, but I had the image of Benicio playing a Euro business tycoon, like somebody in an Antonioni movie. I could just see him in it; I could see him and his sunglasses. But one of the main inspirations — along with a handful of real European businessmen — but the more personal connection is my wife's father [Fouad Malouf]. He's Lebanese, and he was an amazing kind of larger-than-life figure, and I really loved him,' Anderson added. 'The thing about him was he was somebody who [was] wise and very intelligent, but a little bit scary. It was always good to walk into a restaurant with him because everything got taken care of immediately. There are many details of this character that draw on him.' The Phoenician Scheme premieres on streaming video on demand on Peacock on July 25 and is also available now on PVOD.
