European Films

Three brothers try to reconnect with each other on a colourfully exotic trip by train through India in Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited, which for those familiar with Anderson’s work offers nothing new under the sun -- except that its an Indian sun. The film was written by the director, actor Jason Schwartzman, who co-stars as youngest brother, and producer Roman Coppola. Anderson regular Owen Wilson plays the oldest of the three brothers, Adrien Brody plays the middle brother and two other Anderson regulars, Angelica Huston and Bill Murray, are on board for cameos. With all these familiar ingredients lined up, Anderson-like business seems likely.

 

The film is essentially a cross between Anderson’s previous two films The Royal Tenenbaums, about a dysfunctional family, and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, a voyage through strange lands (or rather, waters) with even stranger characters. The Darjeeling Limited -- the title refers to a fictional train line through Rajasthan – offers a dysfunctional family on a voyage through strange lands, with the three brothers trying to reconnect a year after their father’s funeral (shown in an awkwardly inserted flashback).

 

Each brother has been carefully parcelled out some characteristics that set-up some running gags. Wilson is Francis, a control freak who is not very successful at controlling his own life. He wears a turban-like head bandage throughout the film because he injured his head in an attempt to "slam into a hill", which, seen Wilson’s recent hospitalisation, makes for awkward viewing. Brody’s Peter is an affection freak who believes he was his father’s favourite but who is scared of the thought of his unborn child, while Schwartzman’s Jack is a jealousy freak who regularly checks his ex girlfriend’s answering machine while having no quibbles about trying to bed the cute Indian carriage attendant (Amara Karan). 

 

The film’s most memorable image is a visually presented "train of thought" that showcases all the characters encountered by the brothers in one long train, providing cinematographer Robert D. Yeoman and production designer Mark Friedberg ample space to showcase their savoir-faire. A cameo by Natalie Portman in this sequence only makes sense for those who will have seen the Anderson short Hotel Chevalier, which is billed in the short’s end credits as The Darjeeling Limited – Part One and will be available on the internet and on DVD though not in regular theatres, as per the director.

 

If you want more of Anderson’s particular brand of sad comedy then this is exactly that: more of the same, some Indian spice notwithstanding.