'The French Dispatch' consists of three main stories, so it is probably inevitable that one of them is less successful than the others. It is nothing to do with the actors concerned - principally Tilda Swinton, Benicio Del Toro, Adrien Brody and Léa Seydoux - simply that the story of an imprisoned artist becoming The Next Big Thing drags a bit. The other main segments - Frances McDormand and Timothée (still not sure how to pronounce that) Chalamet in a tale of student unrest; and Jeffrey Wright, Mathieu Amalric and Liev Schreiber caught up in a police operation including a kidnapped child and fine dining - are rollicking good fun.
The conceit of these tales is they are all articles in the final issue of the 'French Dispatch', a supplement to a Kansas newspaper that brings French culture to the American Midwest. As the journalists tell their stories, the audience sees artistic pretentions and student naivety knowingly skewered. The acting is universally good and it would be hard to single out one performance - although how the whippet-thin Chalamet twice managed to deliver the line "I'm embarrassed by my new muscles" with a straight face is beyond me.
The film is a mixture of black-and-white, colour and - in an inspired choice for a chase sequence - animation. Even the opening- and closing credits are entertaining (indeed, if there were an Oscar for best opening credits 'The French Dispatch' would win hands down). I saw this at the 2021 London Film Festival and will definitely watch it again - although possibly I will put on the kettle during the jailbird artist sequence.
The conceit of these tales is they are all articles in the final issue of the 'French Dispatch', a supplement to a Kansas newspaper that brings French culture to the American Midwest. As the journalists tell their stories, the audience sees artistic pretentions and student naivety knowingly skewered. The acting is universally good and it would be hard to single out one performance - although how the whippet-thin Chalamet twice managed to deliver the line "I'm embarrassed by my new muscles" with a straight face is beyond me.
The film is a mixture of black-and-white, colour and - in an inspired choice for a chase sequence - animation. Even the opening- and closing credits are entertaining (indeed, if there were an Oscar for best opening credits 'The French Dispatch' would win hands down). I saw this at the 2021 London Film Festival and will definitely watch it again - although possibly I will put on the kettle during the jailbird artist sequence.