A Dispatch on The French Dispatch
©Searchlight Pictures
Wes Anderson's most recent film The French Dispatch (2021) chronicles the writing, editing and publication of the final edition of a fictional American magazine following the death of it's founder and editor Arthur Howitzer, Jr. (Bill Murray). All the trademark visual aspects of Anderson's movies are present but as I became immersed in the movie's three unrelated stories, presented in magazine form, I realized that this was a movie about writers and writing. If you are at all interested in the movie, I highly recommend it.
This week I read an article from the Brooklyn Rail on the movie and was delighted to see that someone had written about the movie's writing and it's writers. I did some more research.
I learned that Anderson wanted to make a film about a magazine and his main inspiration was The New Yorker. I found a segment from The New Yorker's Radio Hour podcast in which Anderson describes his love of the magazine and classic essays from it's team of expatriate writers. Also interviewed in the podcast is actor Jeffrey Wright, who plays Roebuck Wright, a writer loosely based on a combination of James Baldwin, A.J. Liebling and Tennessee Williams. A second Radio Hour segment includes several actors from The French Dispatch reading classic essays from The New Yorker.
Here's a list of pieces which Anderson describes as influences for the film and characters:
James Baldwin - Equal in Paris
Mavis Gallant - The Events in May: A Paris Notebook I and II
S.N Behrman - Duveen (novel mentioned by Anderson at the NY Film Festival by longtime New Yorker writer S.N. Behrman)
I saw The French Dispatch when it opened in theaters and watched it again recently at home. The film envelopes me in the fictional city Ennui, France, and I become captivated by the storytelling and the writers themselves. Seeing the writers discussing their pieces, researching, typing, and taking notes are some of my favorite moments in the film. Occasionally we see into the editing process or the life of the writer. Frances McDormand’s character, influenced by Mavis Gallant, and Jeffrey Wright's character are particularly compelling. The movie creates a place and a time which I can't get enough of this week.
Until next time,
KW