Ever heard of the Wes Anderson Paradox? The answer should be no, because I’ve made it up. It goes a little something like this: If Wes Anderson ever makes a stylistically different movie, is it still a Wes Anderson movie?
Thankfully, I will not have to think about this for at least another year or two, because The Phoenician Scheme is so quintessentially Wes Anderson that it could be mistaken for any other one of his movies. If you’re here to know whether or not to watch it, that’s a very complicated answer. If you already like Wes Anderson movies, then you’ve probably already watched and enjoyed it. If you already dislike Wes Anderson, then you’ve already written it off as “another weird movie”. If you don’t know who Wes Anderson is, deciding whether or not to watch The Phoenician Scheme is going to be a bit of a struggle.
The Phoenician Scheme (and Wes Anderson as a whole) likes to take traditional rules of shot composition and throw them out the window. The weirdest part of this is that it actually works. In fairness, it always works for Wes Anderson. If something is intentionally done incorrectly, was it really done wrong? Anderson has been messing with these rules since the 90’s, but it’s nice to see that he’s still going strong in his…cinematic shenaniganery.
A dark comedy at heart, The Phoenician Scheme follows Industrialist Zsa-zsa Korda (Benicio del Toro), and his estranged daughter, a nun named Liesel (Mia Threapleton). Korda makes Liesel his sole heir and, as a result, a co-conspirator in an enormous financial scheme involving the nation of Phoenicia. Unfortunately for Liesel, it turns out that the scheme is incredibly dangerous, involving terrorists, plane crashes, the CIA, corporate espionage, and, naturally, numerous assassination attempts.
Benicio del Toro, probably best known for his role in the 2015 crime thriller Sicario, is a surprisingly good comedic actor. The fact that he is able to keep a straight face through the entire production is nothing short of a miracle, considering that his character’s name is Zsa-Zsa Korda. Can you imagine how difficult saying “Zsa-Zsa Korda” while introducing yourself with a straight face must be? And that’s not even mentioning Benedict Cumberbatch. At risk of spoiling the ending, I will say that even looking at Cumberbatch was enough to make me burst out laughing.
The entirety of the humor is deadpan, and not as in your face as many comedies these days. This is the case with all of Anderson’s work, and, at the risk of sounding like an absolute snob, I say it’s tasteful humor. There are no piffy one-liners. There are no puns (that I can recall). And most importantly, the humor isn’t annoying. So thank whatever you choose to pray to that Adam Sandler wasn’t allowed anywhere near this movie. My final verdict is that The Phoenician Scheme is a great movie, but it’s not for everyone. Great art direction, engaging story, and great acting all make it worth watching. My only real complaint is that the film would have been better if Owen Wilson, a staple of Wes Anderson movies, had been included.
