The Fabulous World of The Grand Budapest Hotel

The husband and I recently watched The Grand Budapest Hotel. Have you seen it yet? For me the interest lay not in the plot, but in the absolutely fabulous visual design. The plot was interesting, but nothing remarkable ... it is about a conceirge who, with the help of one of his employees, works to prove his innocence when he is wrongly framed for murder. Pretty simple really. 

The Grand Budapest Hotel is set primarily in the 1930s and is bookended by portions in the 1960s and 1980s - a double flashback. Each time period has its own colour palatte, but since most of the movie is in the 1930s that is what made the biggest impact on me. 

Wes Anderson, the director and writer of The Grand Budapest Hotel, is known for his meticulous attention to detail in his films (reportedly he even specified the hook the stolen painting was to hang from). Anderson's use of unique composition and distinctive colour choices make you feel like you have entered a self-contained world. A world that is similar to ours, but different - more controlled, more intense, and quirkier.

I was drawn into The Grand Budapest Hotel's world and was completely intrigued by the visual design. It felt somehow familiar. At first I couldn't put my finger on what made it seem so familiar and then I realized that watching The Grand Budapest Hotel felt like I was stepping into some of my favourite blogs. The forced symmetry, the rich saturated colours, the pastels, the monochromatic look, and the moody lighting are all things that anyone familiar with blog photography would recognize.  

Let's have a look.

RIGID CENTERING AND SYMMETRY:
Most of The Grand Budapest Hotel is shot so you are looking straight at, straight down, or straight up at something. Everything is carefully centred in the middle of the frame - everything from people to buildings to pastries. The style of architecture is classic and symmetrical. It kind of does this symmetrical-loving girl's heart good to see everything lined up and organized like that. Symmetry gives the film a formality (although it is awkwardly formal at times because of the quirky characters and their antics). The rigid symmetry and centering also looks artificial and even a bit child-like which helps reinforce the appearance of this being another world. The symmetry also serves to make you aware of the composition which in turn serves to make you feel like you are looking at another world.

If you have read blogs for any length of time, you will be familiar with the same composition style. Centering the subject and tight symmetrical or semi-symmetrical composition are favourite tools that many bloggers use to take interesting and modern-looking photos of rooms, crafts, travel shots, people, or almost anything really.

Oh Happy Day

SF Girl by Bay

This Heart of Mine

Bright Bazaar

STRONG HORIZONTALS:
One of the other composition techniques Wes Anderson employs is the use of strong horizontal lines. I found this most evident in distance shots, like the one of Gustave and Zero running through the snow in the upper right in the collage below. Of course, horizontal lines happen naturally when you shoot your pictures at a 90 degree angle, but it is emphasized by having people or vehicles move straight across the scene and often at a distance so they appear almost as silhouettes.

(source)

Prior to reading blogs, I had never seen family and wedding photographs taken with the subjects standing stiffly side-by-side facing the camera. Now I see this style frequently and have grown to love its quirky composition. One of my favourite variations of this composition style is the photo below of Gabrielle Blair's family (author of Design Mom). The same strong horizontal lines can also be seen in pictures of food, craft items, or travel photos.

Design Mom

Martha Stewart

Design Mom

The House that Lars Built

Brooklyn Limestone

RICH SATURATED COLOURS:
Wes Anderson is also known for the distinctive colour palettes that he creates for each of his films. In The Grand Budapest Hotel he used cheerful reds and pinks and purples in the hotel scenes. The exterior of the hotel was painted a range of intense pinks, the interior had red walls in the concierge and elevator, blush pink walls in the lobby, red patterned carpets throughout, and the staff wore royal purple uniforms. It is a strong and distinctive colour choice, but it also makes the movie.

I see lots of saturated colours on blogs, although not usually as intense as in The Grand Budapest Hotel. Saturated colours appear more in craft projects, flowers, food, and even fashion photographs, than in interior decorating. Most people decorate with more livable neutral colours, although there are a few bright and beautiful rooms out there in blogland.

Young House Love

Real Simple

Decor Sponge

Decor8

Bright Bazaar

House and Home

PLENTY OF PASTELS:
Many of the scenes in The Grand Budapest Hotel, especially ones that involve Agatha and the bake shop have lots of pink, yellow, and blue pastel colours. 

Pastel colours are a favouite in blogland. Pastels are very livable so are used for pretty much everything from food to fashion to flowers to decor.  The tone of pastels can vary though, from more serious greyed pastels to bright and happy pure-toned pastels.

Martha Stewart

Martha Stewart via Home Depot

Style at Home

Real Simple

West Elm

THE MONOCHROMATIC LOOK:
All the outdoor shots were snowy and overcast creating a monochromatic muted feel to them. The shots even appeared to be black-and-white at times.

The monochromatic look is popular in blogland. It is a calm look, often used in interiors and fashion.

Bright Bazaar

Bright Bazaar

Design Mom

Martha Stewart

Sunday-Suppers

MOODY LIGHTING:
The lighting in The Grand Budapest Hotel ranges from bright and intense to dark and moody. I found the dark lighting especially interesting. The background in these shots was dark with the light focused on the character's faces giving them the look of an old master painting.

Woman Writing a Letter by Gerrit ter Borch (source)

Portrait of a Man Holding Gloves, Rembrandt (source)

While dark and moody lighting is found in blogland, it seems to be used selectively. I see lots of moody table settings, food photography, flower arrangements, and even sometimes in photographs of people. What I don't see as much are dark and moody homes - for the most part light and bright is where it's at when it comes to decorating.

Style at Home

Real Simple

Making it Lovely

Martha Stewart

Although many of the blogs I admire remind me of Wes Anderson's design style, I have to give a shout out to Will Taylor, the blogger behind Bright Bazaar, because his blog is the one that most distinctly fits this style. I love Will's photography and composition and when I read Bright Bazaar I get something of the same feel as The Grand Budapest Hotel.

If you want to get a taste of what I'm talking about, here's the trailer to The Grand Budapest Hotel.  The movie is a feast for the eyes and especially if you are a blogger. 

I would love to know what other bloggers think? Did you feel like you had fallen down the rabbit hole of the blog world too when you watched The Grand Budapest Hotel?

The Grand Seduction

The Grand Seduction is a film that has it all - it's sweet and funny and charming - very, very charming.  It recently opened in theatres across the US and Canada so I wanted to make sure to let you know about it while you still have a chance to see it.

The Grand Seduction was filmed in Trinity Bay, Newfoundland and is loaded with gorgeous shots of rocky cliffs and rugged coastlines and, of course, the endearing town of Tickle Head.

There is an adorable cast of likable characters who you can't help rooting for even if they do have to lie through their teeth to try and save the struggling town.  The fictitious harbour of Tickle Head needs a doctor to land the contract for a petrochemical recycling plant. The townspeople may not know what the plant makes, but they do know it will make much-needed jobs.  

The whole town bands together to seduce the doctor into staying in town - they make the town look more attractive by painting and repairing the buildings; they learn about cricket, the doctor's favourite sport; and they attempt to provide the doctor with a love interest.

The cast features some of the best Canadian actors such as Gordon Pinset and Taylor Kitsch along with the Irish actor Brendan Gleeson (remember "Mad-Eye" Moody from Harry Potter).

Brendan Gleeson, Gordon Pinset, Taylor Kitsch in The Grand Seduction

If all that heart-warming good humour wasn't enough to convince me to see The Grand Seduction, then knowing that it was directed by my cousin Don McKellar would definitely win me over.  Two thumbs up Don - you did a great job!

Don McKellar at the premiere of The Grand Seduction at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival

Here's the trailer to whet your appetite for the movie and let you see a bit more gorgeous Newfoundland scenery.  If you haven't already seen The Grand Seduction, I encourage you to go and watch it on the big screen - it will definitely put a smile on your face and possibly having you wanting to move to Tickle Head yourself.

Grace Kelly: From Movie Star to Princess

Grace Kelly was one of the most photographed women of the 20th century.  I have long admired her elegance, her classic and impeccable style, and her amazing beauty - not to mention that I adore many of the films she is in.  When I read that there was an exhibit of her dresses at the TIFF Centre here in Toronto, Kate and I had to go and have a look.

The thing that made her stand out is what we call style.

McCall's magazine, 1955

We had a great time at the exhibit - the dresses, especially the ones from the 1950s, were amazing and it was fun to see letters and telegraphs from Alfred Hitchcock among others.  My only disappointment was when I got home and Googled more information about the dresses and realized that only a small part of the original Victoria and Albert Museum show in London from earlier this year was brought over (for a comprehensive blog post on the V & A exhibit see here).  Sniff, sniff.  While we loved what we saw, it was disappointing that there were such a small selection of dresses especially from her movie period. Also surprisingly they did not put mirrors on the other side of the dresses so the back side could be viewed.   Despite these issues we really enjoyed seeing the details, the materials, and the workmanship of these famous outfits.

The exhitibit was divided into Grace Kelly the actress, Grace Kelly the bride, and Princess Grace of Monaco.

GRACE KELLY THE ACTRESS
They had this gorgeous soft green dress and the matching coat (designed by Edith Head) that Grace wore to the Oscars in 1955 when she won Best Actress for The Country Girl.

Forever Young Information

Have you seen the movie High Society?  It is a gem and one that Kate and I like to watch and re-watch.  The swimming cover-up, also designed by Edith Head, from this movie was in the exhibit.  The draping across the front is so elegant and suits Grace Kelly's role in the movie as she is supposed to be a bit of a goddess.

Style Matters

GRACE KELLY THE BRIDE
There was a copy of the dress that Grace wore when she first met Prince Ranier at the Cannes Film Festival in 1955.  Apparently the electricity had gone out at the hotel where Grace was staying and she was unable to have any of her dresses pressed so she wore the floral one (in the photo below) which had been given to her by McCalls after a modelling job she had done for them.

Forever Young Information

This is the 1954 pattern that was used to make her dress.  It makes you feel like you could wear a Grace Kelly look-alike dress if you wanted to (it is pretty wild though, so I'm not sure I would really want to).

Vintage Patterns Wiki

They also had the dress that Grace wore when she and Prince Ranier announced their engagement.  Both Kate and I thought this dress was gorgeous - probably the prettiest in the show.  It had lovely details, like the cuffs on the sleeve, and the belt made of the same material with lines sewn along it, and the soft folds at the waist.

Grace added a scarf at the neck, a brooch, some sunglasses, and her famous Kelly bag and she was all set to meet the press.

Forever Young News

There was also the lovely champagne-coloured lace dress she wore for her civil wedding ceremony.  

Disco Nap

It had the prettiest edging along the hem with scalloped lace against the fabric.

Disco Nap

The famous wedding dress designed by Helen Rose, was an exact replica since the original was too delicate to travel from Philadelphia.

Forever Young Information

The view we had of the dress was of the back and I hadn't realized there were bows down the skirt with an insert of lace since you usually see the front in the wedding photographs.

Flare

And finally there was the gray Dior suit she wore when she departed on her honeymoon.

Flare

The Dior suit was so elegant - just simple lines with a fitted jacket and three-quarter length sleeves.

Flare

PRINCESS GRACE OF MONACO
They also had many of her dresses and suits from her later years some of which were beautiful, like this Chanel suit.

Flare

some were very princessy (and frankly look better in this photo than they did in person),

Disco Nap

and some were a little on the wonky side if you ask me - like this one.

Flare

We loved seeing her famous Kelly bag in a beautiful milk chocolate shade along with some of her luggage.

While I recognized many of the dresses on display from historical photographs, there was only one dress that I remember from newspaper articles at the time that it was worn.   It was the purple dress (in the photo below) that Grace wore when attending a fund-raising concert at the Royal Opera House in London in March, 1981 shortly after Prince Charles and Diana Spencer announced their engagement.  It was the first time that Grace Kelly met Diana Spencer and only a year and a half before Grace died.

abc

I do think Grace's style was better suited to the fashion of the 1950s than the 1960s and 70s.  It wasn't just that she was getting older, but rather I think her style suited the elegant dresses from the earlier time period.

If I could have made a dress request, it would have been for the gorgeous black-and-white dress designed by Edith Head that Grace wore in the 1954 movie Rear Window. To me that dress is the height of elegance and it suited her perfectly.  I would have loved, loved, loved to have seen it in real life.

Closet

These are just a few of the dresses at the exhibit - some of the ones that I liked best.  Did one of them stand out as a favourite for you?

The exhibit is still on until January 22, 2012 so you have a few days left to go and see it if you also are a Grace Kelly fan and are interested in seeing a wardrobe that has stood the test of time.