The Phoenician Scheme
Wes Anderson has never created a character quite like Anatole “Zsa-zsa” Korda.
Masterfully played by Benicio Del Toro, the protagonist of The Phoenician Scheme is the rare Anderson lead who’s neither immature nor attempting to entertain those around him. This ruthless businessesman has no time for such tomfoolery, and his dialogue delivery, the content he shares, and his mannerisms imbue the film with a different kind of tone than viewers are accustomed to from the writer/director.
And yet The Phoenician Scheme remains extremely silly in that particular Anderson way, housed within the visually alluring, detail-specific production design on which he’s built his reputation. Zsa-zsa even says and does plenty of funny things, but he doesn't mean to. If you laugh, that's your interpretation of the way he says “Myself, I feel perfectly safe” whenever a dud assassin's missile hits the side of his private plane, or your take on an impromptu, high-stakes game of HORSE — not what he’s doling out.
Truly, there's little evidence that our man has told a joke or even laughed in his entire life, which just makes the whole experience that much funnier. In true Anderson form, there's plentiful amusement in Zsa-zsa — following one too many attempts on his life — summoning his estranged novitiate daughter Liesl (Mia “Kate Winslet’s daughter” Threapleton, A Little Chaos) to learn the specifics of the titular ambitious business deal and be his heir “on a trial basis.” The consistent visual and thematic goofiness of this habit-clad, pipe-smoking young woman and the A/V glee of Zsa-zsa’s new Norwegian entomology tutor Bjorn (Michael Cera) accompanying the titan of industry on his quest yields steady yuks — though his companions likewise seem incapable of purposefully cracking wise.
While Zsa-zsa marks the first true lead in an Anderson feature since M. Gustav in The Grand Budapest Hotel, and various trios have cropped up in his filmography (namely the Tenenbaum children), there's something distinct about this group of three with its unquestionable leader. Building on his stellar work in the opening chapter of The French Dispatch, Del Toro gives what could be his finest performance since Traffic. And, making their Anderson debuts, Threapleton and Cera join the long line of actors who simply get the writer/director’s ethos and fit into his world as if they’ve always been there.
As this oddball team treks across Greater Phoenicia, moving from one business partner meeting to the next — during which Zsa-zsa attempts to compensate for a budgetary shortfall inflicted by U.S. espionage agencies [spearheaded by Rupert Friend's crooked (naturally) Baltimore-based agent Excalibur] — Anderson introduces one colorful character after another, each played by veterans from his ever-growing company. Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Mathieu Amalric, and Jeffrey Wright each have a blast in these professional showdowns — “Help yourself to a grenade,” Zsa-zsa hilariously tells each, again not joking — and though Scarlett Johansson is given little to do, she still strikes a commanding screen presence.
Elsewhere, Riz Ahmed additionally makes a quality Anderson debut as Phoenician Prince Farouk, and Richard Ayoade (so memorable in several of Anderson’s Roald Dahl adaptations) absolutely slays as a Castro-like revolutionary who shoots up Amalric’s Casablanca-esque nightclub in a fun mishmash of WWII/Cold War references.
Over it all looms Zsa-zsa’s half brother, Uncle Nubar (Benedict Cumberbatch), but above even that are B&W asides in heaven where our hero “visits” during his frequent (and ongoing) brushes with death. Robed figures played by Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, and F. Murray Abraham entertainingly pass judgment and issue guidance, helping inform Zsa-zsa’s decision-making when he’s inevitably sent back down to Earth, his time there not yet finished.
This balance of the serious and the absurd is perhaps the defining evolutionary detail that marks The Phoenician Scheme’s place in Anderson’s ever-advancing career. While haters continue to insist that he’s cocooning himself, particularly in the 21st century, more discerning viewers know the filmmaker wouldn’t dare creatively stagnate and can appreciate his subtly significant progress.
In Wes we trust, and that fidelity continues to pay off.
Grade: A. Rated PG-13. Now playing at Carolina Cinemark, the Fine Arts Theatre, and Regal Biltmore Grande.
(Photo: TPS Productions/Focus Features)
