The French Dispatch

review by Ethan Jacobs

The other day I was staying up late and happened to catch a scene of the 2021 Wes Anderson film, The French Dispatch. My dad had been watching it beforehand and fell asleep. The movie was about two-thirds of the way done, but there was something charming that caught my eye. The dialogue, whilst pretentiously absurd, was also hilarious. As the movie continued on in the background, I was quick to tell my dad to replay it a few days afterwards.

When I finally watched the movie from start to finish on Saturday, my view changed ever so slightly. The context around the film added to some of the wit and humor, but I also felt it had less consistency than most Wes Anderson films. Before I proceed on my thoughts, I figure it would be reasonable to give a brief overview of the plot of the film.

The French Dispatch revolves around a fictional American made newspaper written in France throughout the 20th century. Each segment of the anthology film is one of the articles from the paper, all vastly different from one another. The first article tells the tale of a genius painter, incarcerated for murder, the second tells the tale of a student revolution leader, and the third tells the story of a food journalist who gets tied up with a crime family.

Each of the stories is equally amusing, and the star studded cast contributes greatly to their individual charm. Every story is connected through the common factor of the French Dispatch paper. While it makes sense for an anthology film, I felt the connection was looser than usual. We see little in the case of characters interacting between segments, which is unfortunate considering how marvelous some of the characters were.

The casting was definitely unique, and as someone who is not typically a Timothee Chalamet fan, I must say he was phenomenal in this. His dialogue, while completely out of pocket, was hysterical as the student revolution leader. While I have liked a lot of other Wes Anderson films, the second chapter of the movie certainly left a lasting impression on me.

As for the flaws of the film, it was a little slow with its pacing at times. If a movie is aesthetically pleasing, which the French Dispatch certainly is, it can hold my attention longer than others. My dad was out many times during his viewings. Yes, viewings plural because it took him three shots to watch the movie without completely falling asleep. I personally didn’t find it that bad though. Certain segments were just not as attention grabbing as other Wes Anderson films. Think the Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou.

The music was about what I expected. Jarvis Cocker of the britpop band Pulp even contributed to the soundtrack. I recently have become a Pulp fan so I will consider that a plus, but the music was solid as always for the quirky type of film it was.

All in all, I would say the film is one of the better films to come out of 2021. While it’s not Wes Anderson’s best work, it’s definitely a solid entry into his career. I would say a solid 7 out of ten, which makes me agree with IMDb’s review.