The Phoenician Scheme

Wes Anderson's The Phoenician Scheme is the director at his most extravagantly conceived: an elaborate ensemble piece following a dying arms dealer named Zsa-zsa (Benicio del Toro) who summons his various children and associates to a series of increasingly eccentric meetings in an attempt to set his affairs in order. With an A-list cast that includes Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Michael Cera, Jeffrey Wright, and Mia Threapleton, the film is a symphony of Anderson's signature aesthetic concerns — symmetrical compositions, deadpan delivery, and meticulous production design elevated to almost satirical heights.

The screenplay, co-written with Roman Coppola, takes the form of a series of nested stories and theatrical scenes, each episode moving to a different European location rendered in Anderson's characteristic palette of mustards, teals, and deep reds. The film is ostensibly a comedy about family dysfunction and the moral complications of inherited wealth, but Anderson's true subject — as always — is the performance of identity, and the way people use elaborate rituals and costumes to manage the grief of living.

The Phoenician Scheme wears its ambition openly and revels in its own artifice in ways that will delight Anderson's devoted audience. It is also one of his most emotionally substantial films, with del Toro delivering a genuinely moving performance beneath all the whimsy. For those already attuned to Anderson's singular frequency, the film offers moments of startling beauty and genuine feeling. Anderson's eleventh feature film premiered at Cannes to strong reviews.