Any new Wes Anderson film is a stylistic and visual experience that should not be missed. ‘The Phoenician Scheme‘ is no exception, even if the director changed the cinematographer who accompanied him in the previous films, choosing to collaborate this time with Bruno Delbonnel, a renowned cinematographer, but who is on his first film directed by Anderson. The director’s visual brand is very present. Beyond the aesthetic emotion, however, I must say that ‘The Phoenician Scheme‘ left me completely cold. I will make a comparison that may seem strange. My relationship with Victor Vasarely’s Op Art is about the same. I appreciate it aesthetically, I am interested in the conception, but it does not create any feeling for me.
The story (written in collaboration with Roman Coppola), to the extent that the story in the film matters, describes the end of the career and perhaps the repentance of a caid from the 1950s, an international conman, who decides to invest his entire fortune in the development of a region vaguely defined as Phoenicia. To do this, he tries to gather help and financial participation from his family and his business and crime partners, while his enemies from the underworld or from the governments of the world try without interruption to liquidate him. The attempts fail one after another, but each of them triggers a transcendental experience that brings him closer to the gods of different religions. As heir to the business, he chooses his only daughter to the detriment of any of his nine sons, the only problems being that he is possibly responsible for her mother’s death and that paternity is not too certain either. Oh, yes, there would be another problem, the daughter is about to become a nun. Will the father educate his daughter in the management of a global business financed with money from crime or will she be the one to bring the gangster to repentance? Watch, and if you can endure until the end, you will find out.
As in all of Wes Anderson‘s films of the last decade, the cast is fabulous and could feed the credits of ten great Hollywood productions. In the lead role, the extraordinary Benicio Del Toro suffers and enjoys at the same time. The female lead role, that of the heiress of the crime empire that turns into an empire of virtue while she from a nun becomes a princess heir, is played by Mia Threapleton who is practically at her debut in a consistent role in a feature film. She is Kate Winslet’s daughter and if she continues to act like she did here, we will soon be saying about Kate Winslet that she is Mia Threapleton‘s mother. As for the rest of the cast, our sole complain can be that any of the 20 or so stars who appear on screen for between a few seconds and a few minutes doesn’t have a more consistent role, but it’s probably already a status thing in Hollywood to star in a Wes Anderson film. The cinematography and sets are a constant source of visual pleasure. There are many details to notice in this film in which cabotinism and physical humor are constantly combined with cultural quotes and texts or subtexts with substance. For example, at the end, when the credits roll, we can also see a series of paintings with religious themes by Renaissance masters. I think many scenes including the hero’s transcendental dreams are inspired by those paintings. ‘The Phoenician Scheme‘ may belong to that category of films that can be deciphered and enjoyed on a second viewing, but I don’t really have the habit of rewatching films, especially ones like this that I confess didn’t make me care at all during the viewing. It’s also possible that I’m the one to blame and it’s about my personal problem with Wes Anderson and especially his latest films.