THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
Out of context: Reply #9
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- mg330
OK, here's the plot:
The film opens in the present as a teenage girl approaches a statue in a courtyard. In her arms is a memoir penned by a character only known as "The Author." She begins reading a chapter about a trip he made to the Grand Budapest Hotel in the late 1960s. Located in the Republic of Zubrowka, an Eastern European nation ravaged by war and poverty, he discovers that the remote, mountainside hotel has fallen on hard times. Much of its lustrous facilities are now dilapidated and its guests are few and far between.
The Author encounters the hotel's owner one afternoon and they agree to meet later that evening. Over dinner in the hotel's enormous dining room, he tells him the tale of how he took ownership of the Grand Budapest and why he's unwilling to close it down.[9]
The owner's story begins in 1932 during the final years of the hotel's glory days. Zubrowka is on the verge of war but this of little concern to Gustave, the Grand Budapest's devoted concierge. When he isn't attending to the needs of the hotel's wealthy clientele or managing its staff, Gustave courts a series of aging, blonde women who all flock to the hotel to enjoy his "exceptional service." One of them is Madame D. During her final stay at the hotel, Gustave spends the night with her prior to her departure.
A few days later, he's informed that Madame D has died under mysterious circumstances. He races to her wake where he learns that she bequeathed him 'Boy With Apple,' a valuable painting, in her will. This enrages her family, all of whom hoped to inherit it, especially her son, Dmitri Desgoffe-und-Taxis. After Gustav hides the painting in a safe at the Grand Budapest, Gustave is arrested and framed for the murder of Madame D.
Meanwhile, the hotel's new lobby boy, a teenager named Zero, aids him in escaping from a maximum security prison. Along with a group of hardened cons, Gustave digs his way out of his cell. They part ways and Gustave teams up with Zero to prove his innocence. Their adventure takes them to a mountaintop monastery where they meet with Serge X, the only person who can provide Gustav with an alibi for the night of Madame D's murder.
They are pursued by J.G. Jopling, a cold-blooded assassin who manages to kill Serge. Zero and Gustave steal a sled and chase Jopling as he flees the monastery. During a clash on the edge of a cliff, Zero manages to kill the assassin and rescue his mentor.
Back at the Grand Budapest, the military has commandeered the hotel and is in the process of turning it into a bunker. The outbreak of war is now imminent. A heartbroken Gustave vows to never again pass the threshold. They are joined by Agatha, Zero's young wife. She agrees to go inside to retrieve the painting but is discovered by Dimitri. A chase and a gunfight ensue before Gustave's innocence is finally proven via a confessional letter, penned by Serge, that was hidden in the painting's frame.
A different version of Madame D's will is soon discovered as well. It reveals that she was the mysterious owner of the Grand Budapest. She leaves much of her fortune, the hotel and the painting to Gustave, making him fabulously wealthy in the process. He becomes one of the hotel's regular guests and later grants Zero ownership. Meanwhile, the war rages on all around them.
During a train trip, soldiers search Gustave's carriage and he's shot and killed during an argument. Zero vows to continue his legacy at the Grand Budapest but the ongoing conflict and the ravages of time slowly begin to take their toll. Agatha succumbs to a disease and dies a few years later.
The hotel's owner, now revealed to be an aging and devastated Zero, confesses to the Author that he can't bring himself to close the hotel because it's his last link to his dearly departed wife and the best years of his life. The Author later departs for South America and never returns to the hotel, leaving both it and Zero's ultimate fate unknown. Back in the present, the girl finishes reading the chapter about the Grand Budapest and leaves the courtyard.