Influence: Stefan Zweig & Wes Anderson

This week’s post is based on the chapter Twenty-four Hours in the Life of a Woman written by Stefan Zweig, and the movie The Grand Budapest Hotel, directed by Wes Anderson.

It is clearly shown throughout Wes Anderson’s films that he gets a lot of his influence from Stefan Zweig’s writings. There are some very similar aspects found in both Zweig’s and Anderson’s storylines. Some of these include the location, characters, plot, and theme. There is also a strong common theme of nostalgia connecting both Zweig and Anderson.

In Twenty-four Hours in the Life of a Woman, it starts out with a group of people at a hotel, which is practically the central theme and hub of the story, similar to The Grand Budapest Hotel. It goes on to talk about a married woman with two children running off with a man who everyone thinks they just met. This incident turns the hotel upside down and puts some of the hotel guests against each other. This gives the story a somewhat melancholy feel, which is similar to some of the moods in Anderson’s films, especially The Grand Budapest Hotel. The storyline in The Grand Budapest Hotel centers on the famous hotel, with the blossoming friendship between the legendary concierge and a young, new bellhop. However, the melancholy comes from the two wars going and the multiple deaths that occur in the film. The nostalgia factor that also shows Zweig’s influence on Anderson is shown both in of their works as well. In Twenty-four Hours in the Life of a Woman, the main focus is on the reminiscing of the twenty-four hours in a woman’s life, one day that changed her life forever. This is similar to The Grand Budapest Hotel, since it focuses on an old man who reminisces on his life as a bellhop in that famous hotel. I feel like Anderson got most of his influence from the authentic nostalgia that Zweig writes about, because it shows up a lot in Anderson’s films. A final connection shown between Zweig and Anderson is the acute detail that is present throughout both storylines. The overall mood is also very intense and both have a very interesting style that makes the audience intrigued and apart of the story.