“The Phoenician Scheme” Is Delightfully Absurd And Absurdly Delightful
For his 12th film, the masterful Wes Anderson has devised “The Phoenician Scheme,” an industrialist-themed yarn that blitzes with style and rattles with hilarity. Here, we bear witness to an artist working at the height of their craft. It’s truly splendid cinema.
Set in the 50s, the story zooms in on Zsa-Zsa Korda (Benicio del Toro), a slippery tycoon with a controversial aura. After seeing visions of his judgment day, he decides to anoint his only daughter (a nun played by Mia Threapleton) as the sole heir to his estate—but on a trial basis. Wes Anderson deploys his signature boxy aesthetic to literal levels here, as the tightly organized plot unfolds through a series of shoeboxes that contain Korda’s enterprise plans.
What ensues is a comedic caper of suspicious events and idiosyncratic characters. This thing is hysterical. It’s delightfully absurd and absurdly delightful. The clever script is packed with dialogue that is as droll as it is sophisticated, and there are plenty of sight gags stuffed in—my favorite being a high-stakes game of basketball where Benicio del Toro and Riz Ahmed square off against a duo of cantankerous investors played by Tom Hanks and Brian Cranston. Benicio del Toro gives a stellar central performance, and his comic timing is excellent.
As expected, Wes Anderson’s defining traits as a filmmaker are on full exhibit here. The visuals are painterly, picturesque, and cinematic all at once. Every frame is exquisitely staged, and every scene is a hoot and a half. There’s a significant emphasis on architecture and interior design, and if you pay close attention to the depth and dimension of each setting, the details are astonishing—right down to the textures and color palettes. It’s almost as if a lot of the shots were ripped from an issue of “Architectural Digest” that Wes Anderson curated in his imagination.
With a title like “The Phoenician Scheme,” it’s only fitting that the intricate narrative stacks on the twists, turns and reveals. But what’s most surprising are the sneakily tender moments, along with the themes of fate, faith and family. With this film, Wes Anderson proves that he’s one of the greatest auteurs in contemporary cinema. When Korda utters the line, “Don’t buy great art, buy masterpieces,” it feels personal.
“The Phoenician Scheme” is available to rent or buy on all major streaming platforms, and available to stream with your Peacock subscription.
Zach Murphy is an avid enthusiast of cinema, theater and storytelling. He lives with his wonderful wife Kelly in St. Paul. You can read more reviews at his blog, Fade to Zach.
