The film deals with the redemption of the Tenenbaum family, most notably Royal and his three children, Chas, Margot, and Richie. Chas has been a genius financier since birth, and expropriates Royal's house after Royal steals some of Chas's money out of his safety deposit box. After the death his wife, Chas becomes fearful and distrusting towards the whole world, until Royal saves his sons from near death. Margot, the adopted daughter of the Tenenbaums, was a very skilled playwright, but Royal's lack of support discourages her and leads her down a path of broken relationships with men. Richie was considered by the rest of the children to be Royal's favorite, which causes them to show disdain for Richie. Richie was a tennis prodigy and won the American Nationals 3 times. He has a longstanding love for Margot, which ends up costing him his career when has a meltdown in his match after he sees Margot with her new husband, Raleigh St. Claire. He eventually tries to kill himself because of this. He reveals his love for Margot, and she has always felt the same way about him. At the end of the movie, the family is reunited and all of them are redeemed through love. This movie is one of my favorites, as it depicts some of the most broken people you could imagine, and yet all of them are able to be redeemed.
1. Is the Tenenbaum family as strange and dysfunctional as the film leads on, or are they more of a parody of all families?
2. How do our relationships with our friends and family affect our ability to find redemption through Christ?
I also loved this movie. I think it's a poignant and honest depiction of a dysfunctional family that, while it verges on the absurd, never descends to stereotypes.
ReplyDeleteI didn't see a full redemption at the end, however, particularly in the case of Margot and Richie. They will never be able to live together, and even if they overcome familial and societal objections, they would break Raleigh's heart. But overall, though nothing was fixed at the end of the movie, things were better.
I think this film is a great, beautiful reminder of truths about family and forgiveness that doesn't have a happy ending as much as a true one.
I would argue that although it isn't typical, that the movie does end with a happy ending. Although Royal dies, he dies with his family together. Chas finally forgives Royal, and although Richie and Margot would probably never marry, they don't have to hide their feelings for each other anymore, and both are much happier. And in Royal's tombstone, it reads "...died saving his family from a sinking ship" which alludes to his comments earlier in the movie on how he wants to die.
ReplyDeleteGood description of a great film, Cole. Unfortunately, you didn't really do any analysis of the piece. Why did Wes Anderson make this film to tell this story? What, if anything, is he critiquing or bring to light?
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