Wes Anderson - The Grand Budapest Hotel

Something’s on the back of the picture.

ZERO

( confused )

What?

Agatha holds a piece of the torn and crumbled wrapping paper. She and Zero both look straight up.

Cut to:

Zero and Agatha’s point-of-view through the hole punched in the roof of the van. Seven floors up, M. Gustave, Henckels, and M. Chuck lean out the window staring down at them, frozen, while other officers lean out other windows all across the facade. Four floors up, ‘Boy with Apple’, unwrapped, hangs upside-down from a wire below the balcony. It swings gently.

Insert:

The painting, upside-down. A pair of hands flips it over to reveal the pale-pink envelope on the reverse.

Title:

PART 6:

‘THE SECOND COPY OF THE SECOND WILL’

INT. DINING ROOM. DAY

The entire, vast assembly of officers and soldiers stands crowded, murmuring, around a table in the restaurant where M. Gustave, Zero, and Dmitri, all in handcuffs, sit across from Henckels. Agatha stands behind Zero. Marguerite, Laetizia, and Carolina stand behind Dmitri. M. Chuck stands behind Henckels.

Henckels carefully peels the envelope loose from the back of the canvas. He slits it open with a pocket knife and removes a handwritten letter on pale-pink paper. He skims it, then looks to M. Gustave.

MR. MOUSTAFA

( voice-over )

She left everything to M. Gustave, of course.

INT. COURTROOM. DAY

M. Gustave on the witness stand. He wears his concierge uniform and is immaculate. The jury listens, enraptured by his testimony. The judge sniffs the air. He looks irritated.

MR. MOUSTAFA

( voice-over )

The mansion, known as Schloss Lutz; the factories, which produced weapons, medicine, and textiles; an important newspaper syndicate; and (perhaps you’ve already deduced) this very ‘institution’ – the Grand Budapest Hotel.

Zero, Agatha, Herr Becker, Mr. Mosher, and Anatole watch, entertained, from the gallery.

Insert:

The front page of the Trans-Alpine Yodel. Headline: CLEARED OF ALL CHARGES. A photograph shows M. Gustave with the entire staff posing in front of the Grand Budapest. A column below the fold reads, ‘Son of Murdered Countess Disappears without Trace.’

Cut to:

Zero behind the concierge desk. He now wears a uniform identical to M. Gustave’s. He rattles off instructions to Mr. Mosher, Herr Becker, Anatole, and M. Chuck.

MR. MOUSTAFA

( voice-over )

He anointed me his successor; and, as the war continued, I served my adopted country from the narrow desk still found against the wall in the next room.

Across the lobby, M. Gustave sits drinking a cocktail with a beautiful, begemmed, ninety-year-old woman. His hand rests on her thigh.

He was the same as his disciples: insecure, vain, superficial, blonde, needy. In the end, he was even rich.

EXT. MOUNTAIN RANGE. DAY

The facade of the Grand Budapest at sunset. The camera glides along the path through the plot of edelweiss and buttercups.

MR. MOUSTAFA

( voice-over )

He did not succeed, however, in growing old – nor did my darling Agatha. She and our infant son would be killed two years later by the Prussian grippe . (An absurd little disease. Today, we treat it in a single week; but, in those days, many millions died.)

The camera comes to a stop as it reveals the view from the iron-lattice terrace over the crevasse alongside the cascade.

Zero and Agatha hold hands while M. Gustave reads from a Bible, officiating. The other witnesses are the staff of the hotel and the concierges of the Society of the Crossed Keys.

INT. TRAIN COMPARTMENT. DAY

A first-class state room on the express to Lutz. M. Gustave, Zero, and Agatha each hold a glass of chilled, white wine.

MR. MOUSTAFA

( voice-over )

On the first day of the occupation, the morning the independent state of Zubrowka officially ceased to exist, we traveled with M. Gustave to Lutz.

M. Gustave checks the color of the wine in the light. It is excellent. Pause.

M. GUSTAVE

In answer to your earlier question, by the way: of course.

Zero looks slightly puzzled. M. Gustave explains, aside, to Agatha:

M. GUSTAVE

Zero asked me about my humble beginnings in the hotel trade. ( To Zero and Agatha both. ) I was, perhaps, for a time, considered the best lobby boy we’d ever had at the Grand Budapest. I think I can say that. This one – ( pointing to Zero ) finally surpassed me. Although, I must say, he had an exceptional teacher.

ZERO

( with great affection )

Truly.

AGATHA

( reciting )

‘Whence came these two, radiant, celestial brothers, united, for an instant, as they crossed the stratosphere of our starry window? One from the East, and one from the West.’

M. GUSTAVE

( impressed )

Very good.

M. Gustave kisses Agatha’s hand. Zero frowns.

ZERO

Don’t flirt with her. ( Suddenly. ) Why are we stopping at a barley field again?

The train has, in fact, again come to a halt in the middle of nowhere – but, this time, outside the window, there are tanks, trucks, and a hundred soldiers in black uniforms with long coats. M. Gustave, Zero, and Agatha stare out at them, uneasy.

M. GUSTAVE

I find these black uniforms very drab. I suppose they’re meant to frighten people, but –

Three soldiers appear in the compartment doorway. They are stocky, thick-necked, and armed with carbine rifles. M. Gustave says with his usual air of fancy-meeting-you-here:

M. GUSTAVE

Well, hello there, chaps. We were just talking about you.

SOLDIER 1

( blankly )

Documents, please.

M. GUSTAVE

With pleasure – as always.

M. Gustave and Agatha withdraw their passports and present them to the soldier. The soldier flips through them .

M. GUSTAVE

You’re the first of the enemy forces to whom we’ve been formally introduced. How do you do?

The soldier ignores this comment. He returns the passports to M. Gustave and Agatha and looks to Zero. Zero nervously hands him his little scrap of paper. The soldier frowns and studies it. M. Gustave smiles. He says lightly:

M. GUSTAVE

Plus ça change , am I right? ( To the soldier. ) That’s a Migratory Visa with Stage Three Worker Status, darling. Read this.

M. Gustave hands the soldier Henckels’ special document. The soldier shows it to his associates. They confer rapidly at a whisper. There is some debate. Before M. Gustave can work his magic – the soldier rips the special document to shreds.

Pause.

M. Gustave looks to Zero. Zero and Agatha are both stunned and frightened. M. Gustave seems to smile very slightly, reassuring them, and somehow sends a sincere, private message:

M. GUSTAVE

Good luck.

M. Gustave’s jaw hardens. He pegs his glass of wine at the soldier, shattering it, and explodes:

You filthy, goddamn, pock-marked, fascist assholes!