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| Wes Anderson: The Phoenician Scheme (US/DE 2025) with Benicio Del Toro (Zsa-zsa Korda) and an all star cast. Tagline: "If something gets in your way: flatten it." |
Der phönizische Meisterstreich / Foinikialainen juoni / The Phoenician Scheme [title in Sweden and France].
US/DE © 2025 TPS Productions LLC & Focus Features LLC. – Focus Features and Indian Paintbrush present an American Empirical picture. P: Wes Anderson, Jeremy Dawson, John Peet, Steven Rales. EX: Roman Coppola, Henning Molfenter.
D: Wes Anderson. SC: Wes Anderson. Story: Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola. DP: Bruno Delbonnel – colour – 1.48:1 – 35 mm – Super 35 – master format: 4K digital intermediate – release format: DCP. PD: Adam Stockhausen. Cost: Milena Canonero. Hair & makeup: Heike Merker. Lead graphic designer: Erica Dorn. Graphic designer: Lucile Gauvain. Miniature unit supervisor: Simon Weisse. SFX: Gerd Nefzer (special effects supervisor, Nefzer Special Effects). Associate VFX supervisor: Cameron Smither. VFX supervisor Alchemy 24: Sébastien Chartier. VFX supervisor Cadence Effects: Craig Crawford. VFX EX Freefolk: Meg Guidon. VFX: RED, FX WRX, Hotspring. Custom design accessories: Cartier (Liesl's rosary), Prada (Bjørn's rucksack), Dunhill (Liesl's bejeweled corncob pipe), Harumi Klossowoka de Rola (Liesl's dagger), Oliver Peoples (Zsa-zsa's sunglasses). M supervisor: Randall Poster. Drumming inspired by Gene Krupa. Original M: Alexandre Desplat. Soundtrack: Igor Stravinsky (Petrouchka, The Firebird, Apollo). ED: Barney Pilling. Add ED: Andrew Weisblum. Casting: Douglas Aibel.
C: Benicio del Toro (Zsa-zsa Korda), Mia Threapleton (Sister Liesl), and Michael Cera (Bjørn Lund). Also featuring Riz Ahmed (Prince Farouk, crown prince of Phoenicia), Tom Hanks (Leland, investor from Sacramento), Bryan Cranston (Reagan, Leland's brother), Mathieu Amalric (Marseille Bob), Jeffrey Wright (Marty, investor from Newark), and Scarlett Johansson (Cousin Hilda Sussman-Korda). Plus Richard Ayoade (a helpful freedom fighter / Radical Freedom Militia Corps), Benedict Cumberbatch (Zsa-zsa's mysterious half-brother Nubar), Rupert Friend (the shadowy agent "Excalibur"), Hope Davis (Liesl's Mother Superior). – Biblical Troupe: F. Murray Abraham, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Willem Dafoe, Beatrice Campbell and Bill Murray (God) with Freya Feyrouz.
Filmed at and in Association with: Studio Babelsberg, in Potsdam, Germany.
Dedicated to Fouad Mikhael Malouf, born in Bethlehem, died in London. Shaded in life by the Cedars of Lebanon.
101 min
Festival premiere: 18 May 2025 Cannes
GB premiere: 23 May 2025
German premiere: 29 May 2025
US premiere: 30 May 2025 (limited), 6 June 2025 (wide)
Finnish premiere: 6 June 2025 – released by Finnkino – with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Anitra Paukkula / Frej Grönholm
Viewed at Tennispalatsi 7 (Luxe by Crisp), 7 June 2025
Tagline: "If something gets in your way: flatten it."
IMDb storyline: "Wealthy businessman Zsa-zsa Korda appoints his only daughter, a nun, as sole heir to his estate. As Korda embarks on a new enterprise, they soon become the target of scheming tycoons, foreign terrorists and determined assassins."
AA: Wes Anderson's The Phoenician Scheme is a fabulous phantasmagoria, a visionary banquet, an image-driven adventure with a fantastic cast of characters. Its cinematic lineage draws from the féerie (the fairy-tale genre) including the frontal composition, the commitment to symmetry and ornamental décor. It is a sumptuous celebration of arts and crafts. It is art for art's sake. The cinema of attractions.
Worth visiting at la Cinémathèque française is the grand Wes Anderson exhibition, open until the 27th of July. Of profound relevance is the Cinémathèque's permanent exhibition of Musée Méliès, la magie du cinéma, because Anderson is a direct heir to Méliès. Children and young people love Anderson.
Anderson got the inspiration to his antihero protagonist from his father-in-law Fouad Mikhael Malouf. In The Phoenician Scheme's cinematic protoplasm we can also identify affinities with Gilda, Citizen Kane, Mr. Arkadin, David Golder and the bigger-than-life villains of James Bond movies. There are also further real-life counterparts starting from Alexander Korda (Anderson's protagonist is called Zsa-zsa Korda) to Alfred Nobel, Calouste Gulbenkian, Árpád Plesch, William Randolph Hearst and Enrico Mattei.
The turns of the adventure are awesome. The visual innovations are breathtaking. Anderson knows how to make a brisk and entertaining action film. Everything is displayed with deadpan mannerism.
Since The Royal Tenenbaums Anderson always creates a new unique universe, a new artificial paradise. The imagery is new, but the approach is consistent, as are recurrent features such as cartoon violence, vintage album sleeves and beloved acteurs-fétiche that we need to recognize under new masks. Meaningful objects in The Phoenician Scheme include the lie detector and the ubiquitous skull (memento mori).
Anderson loves surrealism and the late period of Luis Buñuel, and he singles out the dream sequence from The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, which happens to be my favourite dream sequence. Last year was the centenary of surrealism, and I celebrated it by visiting the two magnificent exhibitions in Brussels. Surrealism is a phenomenon that permeates many kinds of expression from Kafka to Bowie, in the cinema from Judex to Lynch. But is Wes Anderson a surrealist?
Buñuel wanted to create cinematography as sober as a newsreel. He rejected tricks and special effects. He wanted to keep his lens pure for the poetry of reality itself. Dream was always close to reality, the unconscious never far away from the conscious.
With Wes Anderson it's the opposite. He belongs to the artists who believe in the image, Buñuel to those who believe in reality, to apply André Bazin's division. His is an art of fabulous surfaces. Children love Anderson, and he approaches his stories like a child's play, imitating the grown-up world. It's about fun, joy and parody. The Wes Anderson universe is a magnificent playground.
Hopefully Anderson keeps crafting new unique and extraordinary visions as the grand pâtissier. But I would love to see him creating also something along the lines of the Bottle Rocket and Rushmore again. "Reality is more incredible than imagination", said Dostoevsky.
Wes Anderson is unclassifiable. More than surrealism I find his work relevant to postmodernism. Writing about it, Fredric Jameson paid attention to "the waning of affect" and "surrealism without the unconscious". The images are striking but tend to remain on the surface. I don't find Wes Anderson shallow. But I wish he would more boldly face gravity.
DATA FROM THE PRESS DOSSIER BEYOND THE BREAK:
THE SHOEBOXES
Shoebox #1
Prince Farouk and the Sacramento Consortium
Trans-mountain Locomotive Tunnel (Territory of His Majesty the 7th King of Lower Western Independent Phoenicia)
Shoebox #2
Marseille Bob and the Newark Syndicate
Trans-desert Inland Waterway (Principality of Upper Eastern Independent Phoenicia)
Shoebox #3
Cousin Hilda and the Utopian Outpost
Trans-basin Hydroelectric Embankment (Domain of THE Hilda Sussman-Korda Private Utopian Outpost, Middle Independent Phoenicia)
Shoebox #3 ½
Emergency Directive
Shoebox #4
Uncle Nubar and the Korda Reliquary
Shoebox #5
Chez Zsa-zsa
REAL ARTWORKS
Pierre-August Renoir: Enfant Assis en Robe Bleue (Portrait d’Edmond Renoir Jr.), 1889 Oil on Canvas
René Magritte: The Equator, 1942, Oil on Canvas
Juriaen Jacobsz: Dogs in Combat, 1678, Oil on Canvas
Jan Weenix: Still Life with a Hare and other Game, 1680, Oil on Canvas
Julius von Ehren: The Barbara-Altar (Four Copies after Master Francke), 1925, Oil on panel
Floris Gerritsz van Schooten: Still Life of Breakfast with Roast Ox, 1640
Oak
Carl Raffael: Eine Eiche im Winter, 1864, Oil on Canvas
Workshop: Tilman Riemenschneider: Lamentation of Christ, ca. 1500, Wooden relief
SOUNDTRACK
Apollon musagète:"Apotheosis"
Written by Igor Stravinsky
Performed by Igor Stravinsky and RCA Victor Orchestra
Courtesy of Sony Classical
By arrangement with Sony Music Entertainment
Petrouchka, 1911 Version:"The Shrovetide Fair”/“The Crowds”/“The Conjuring Trick”
Written by Igor Stravinsky
Performed by London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bernard Haitink
Courtesy of Decca Music Group Ltd. under license from Universal Music Enterprises
“Piano Sonata No. 2 in A Op. 2 IV Rondo”
Written by Ludwig van Beethoven 1795
Performed by Robert Corben
Courtesy of RothMar Media LLC
Petrouchka, 1947 Version: "Tableau 1, The Shrovetide Fair"
Written by Igor Stravinsky
Performed by Igor Stravinsky and Columbia Symphony Orchestra
Courtesy of Sony Classical
By arrangement with Sony Music Entertainment
“Drum Boogie”
Written by Elton Hill, Gene Krupa
Performed by Gene Krupa & His Orchestra
Courtesy of Columbia Records
By arrangement with Sony Music Entertainment
“Mud Bug”
Written by Jerry Horowitz
“A Night In Tunisia”
Written by John Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Paparelli
Both Performed by Fuasi Abdul-Khaliq Sextet
Fuasi Abdul-Khaliq
Christian Grabandt
Rob Gutowski
Kelvin Sholar
Erik Unsworth
Eric Vaughn
Herz und Mund und Tat und Lieben Cantata BWV 147: "1. (Chorus)"/"5. Bereite dir, Jesu, noch itzo die Bahn (Aria)"/"10. Jesus bleibet meine Freude (Chorale)"
Written by Johann Sebastian Bach
Performed by Karl Richter, Munich Bach Choir, Münchener Bach-Orchester
Courtesy of Profil Medien Licensing
“Hach Baregel”
Written by Nachum Nardi
Performed by Ahuva Tsadok and Nachum Nardi
Courtesy of Global Village Music
"A String of Pearls"
Written by Jerry Gray
Performed by Glenn Miller & His Orchestra
Courtesy of RCA Records
By arrangement with Sony Music Entertainment
Pictures At An Exhibition: “Promenade 1”/“The Hut On Fowl's Legs (Baba-Yaga)”
Written by Modest Mussorgsky, Arranged by Maurice Ravel
Performed by Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan
Courtesy of Deutsche Grammophon GmbH under license from Universal Music Enterprises
L’Oiseau de Feu (The Firebird), 1910 Version:"Introduction"/"Le Jardin enchanté de Kachtchei"/"Disparition du palais et des sortilèges de Kachtchei, animation des chevaliers pétrifiés, allégresse générale"
Written by Igor Stravinsky
Performed by Igor Stravinsky and Columbia Symphony Orchestra
Courtesy of Sony Classical
By arrangement with Sony Music Entertainment
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