--- title: "The Grand Budapest Hotel" year: 2014 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-grand-budapest-hotel" fi1m_id: "the-grand-budapest-hotel" imdb_id: "tt2278388" tmdb_id: 120467 wikidata_id: "Q3521099" fi1m_score: 86 critics_score: 85 critics_reviews: 13 published: "2026-09-15" updated: "2026-09-18T08:37:51.480479+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) Directed by Wes Anderson · 1h 40m · MPA R · Comedy, Drama ## Identity The Grand Budapest Hotel - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/the-grand-budapest-hotel - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** the-grand-budapest-hotel - **IMDb ID:** tt2278388 - **TMDB ID:** 120467 - **Wikidata ID:** Q3521099 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2278388/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/120467, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3521099 **Fi1m score: 86** · Critics 85 from 13 reviews *In a sentence:* A murder investigation is no excuse for letting hotel standards slip > Wes Anderson’s murder caper is funny, exact and more affecting than its fussiness suggests. Ralph Fiennes makes its vain concierge worth caring about, even when the carefully arranged sentiment starts to feel compulsory. ## Synopsis Ralph Fiennes plays M. Gustave, a concierge in a hotel in a fictional alpine country during the 1930s. A murder case involving the wealthy Madam D. draws him into a caper involving stolen art, with Tony Revolori’s Zero alongside him. Beyond the hotel, political thuggery threatens the customs Gustave works to preserve. The story passes through several narrators and periods, with F. Murray Abraham as Mr. Moustafa and Jude Law as the Young Author among the cast. Wes Anderson directs this comedy-drama about friendship, manners and a remembered world. ## Review *The Grand Budapest Hotel* is an excellent comedy about a man who takes hotel service seriously enough to make it a moral duty. Wes Anderson sends his concierge, M. Gustave, into a murder caper in a fictional alpine country, with the threat of political brutality already close by. It is funny, busy and unexpectedly touching, and Ralph Fiennes is the principal reason to recommend it. Some of the sentiment is overmanaged, particularly around Gustave and Zero. Gustave’s vanity matters because Fiennes never makes decency look effortless. His precise speech and comic timing suggest someone who has put considerable work into being this particular, and who expects others to make an effort too. We laughed at his fussy delivery, then found ourselves unexpectedly protective of him. Fiennes makes his concern for proper conduct seem stubbornly sincere even as the surrounding escapades grow more frantic. Anderson’s screenplay gives him enough self-importance to stay funny without making his loyalties seem merely another affectation. Robert D. Yeoman’s cinematography uses changing frame proportions to help distinguish the story’s different layers. His stylised camera movements keep us aware that this world has been built for the camera, which suits a story told through recollection. Production designers Adam Stockhausen and Nathan Parker supply a hotel whose density of detail remains entertaining even when the plot pauses to explain itself. Anderson gives the buildings and their furnishings almost as much attention as the people. Barney Pilling’s editing keeps the changes of narrator and period from clogging up the caper. At 100 minutes, the film has room for its digressions without allowing the criminal business to disappear from view for long. Alexandre Desplat’s score supplies much of the bustle, allowing the dialogue to stay precise rather than frantic. The cutting gives Fiennes time to complete a comic thought, while the music keeps those brief pauses from feeling like a loss of pace. The weaker passages come when Anderson asks the bond between Gustave and Tony Revolori’s Zero to bear quite so much emotional weight. We understand the affection, but occasionally the screenplay seems determined to have it acknowledged before the story can proceed. Fiennes is more persuasive when his concern for other people emerges amid the comedy, without extra emphasis. This is a small but noticeable limit in a film whose timing elsewhere is so assured, and it keeps the sentiment from feeling entirely spontaneous. Judged as a caper, the film succeeds because the company is worth keeping through the complications. Anderson asks more of it by placing comedy beside approaching totalitarianism, and the historical threat gives Gustave’s standards some urgency. There is a risk that such carefully controlled images make brutality feel safely remote; Fiennes does much to prevent that by making his character’s concern for others persuasive. The invented setting remains openly artificial, with no attempt to disguise how thoroughly it has been arranged. If Anderson’s fussiness usually puts you off, Fiennes is a good reason to try again. Give the dialogue as much attention as the hotel. Watch it with someone who will let him finish a sentence before pointing out the furnishings. *Fi1m score 86, published 15 September 2026.* ## What the critics say The consensus is strongly positive, with praise centred on Ralph Fiennes and the precision of Wes Anderson’s filmmaking. Most critics find Fiennes both sharply funny and unexpectedly moving as Gustave, giving the elaborate caper a persuasive human centre. The production design, intricate storytelling and comic timing draw repeated praise, as does the melancholy beneath the farce. Across the reviews, Anderson’s familiar style is widely seen as serving a warmer, more emotionally substantial story about loyalty, decency and a disappearing world. The differences are largely matters of enthusiasm rather than outright dissent. Empire acknowledges that the degree of stylisation may divide viewers, while Collider finds the emotional bond between Gustave and Zero slightly calculated. The Playlist’s reservation is more practical: the pace slackens in the final third after a strong opening. These caveats leave a broadly consistent response, with even the more qualified reviews admiring the performances and detailed filmmaking. ## Straight answers **Is The Grand Budapest Hotel worth watching?** *The Grand Budapest Hotel* is worth watching, and we scored it 86. Ralph Fiennes makes the vain concierge M. Gustave funny and unexpectedly touching, and Wes Anderson's murder caper moves briskly through its several narrators and periods. Our reservation is that the sentiment between Gustave and Zero is occasionally pressed harder than it needs to be. **How long is The Grand Budapest Hotel, and what is it rated?** *The Grand Budapest Hotel* runs 1h 40m and is rated R by the MPA in the US. It is a comedy and drama film. **Where can I watch The Grand Budapest Hotel in the US?** *The Grand Budapest Hotel* is available to rent from Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV from $2.99. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service. **How violent or frightening is The Grand Budapest Hotel, and is it suitable for children?** *The Grand Budapest Hotel* carries a UK 15 certificate, so it is not intended for children. It is a comedy first, but the murder plot and the political thuggery pressing in on the hotel bring moments of brutality, and the certificate implies strong language or violence of a kind teenagers under 15 are not meant to see. Older teenagers who enjoy dry, talkative comedy should be fine. **How does The Grand Budapest Hotel compare to The Lady Vanishes?** *The Grand Budapest Hotel* and [*The Lady Vanishes*](https://film.one/film/the-lady-vanishes) both set comedy and danger against respectable manners, but Anderson's film is a built, stylised world told through recollection, while Hitchcock's is a tighter, more urgent mystery confined to a train. Fiennes gives the later film its heart; Margaret Lockwood keeps the earlier one moving. Choose Hitchcock for suspense and Anderson for design and character. **What should I watch after The Grand Budapest Hotel?** After *The Grand Budapest Hotel*, try [*The Lady Vanishes*](https://film.one/film/the-lady-vanishes) (1938, Fi1m 88): A trainbound mystery with dry comedy and danger pressing against respectable manners. Then [*To Be or Not to Be*](https://film.one/film/to-be-or-not-to-be) (1942, Fi1m 87): Actors answer political terror with vanity, ingenuity and an unexpectedly sturdy sense of duty; and [*Delicatessen*](https://film.one/film/delicatessen) (1991, Fi1m 83): Macabre comedy in a carefully built miniature society, with tenderness among the grotesques. ### Reviews we read (20) - **Los Angeles Times**, Kenneth Turan (4/4): The critic calls it a four-star delight that elevates Anderson's familiar approach into magnificent entertainment. He singles out Ralph Fiennes' transformative performance as Gustave H. for giving the world heft and reality. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-grand-budapest-hotel-20140307-story.html) - **Radio Times**, Calum Baker (5/5): Baker states Anderson's meticulous style reaches its most complete expression in this poignant period comedy, with Fiennes' poised performance revealing emotional depths amid manic escapades. The screenplay, score, camerawork and overall artistry are praised as unmissable. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-nop5jj/the-grand-budapest-hotel/) - **The Telegraph**, Jenny McCartney (85/100, inferred): Wes Anderson's latest is a triumphant Nazi-era caper of loyalty and love set in a made-up alpine country. Fiennes invests his eccentric concierge with profound moral sense amid fading grandeur and encroaching thuggery. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/10683217/The-Grand-Budapest-Hotel-Well-worth-a-visit.html) - **Little White Lies**, David Jenkins (5/4/4): Jenkins describes it as a sparkling, opulent caper with an endearing lead turn from Fiennes, full of Andersonian melancholy beneath the cartoonish romp. The meticulous production design and tonal balance are highlighted as strengths. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/the-grand-budapest-hotel) - **The Guardian**, Mark Kermode (80/100, inferred): The film is Anderson's most tightly wound and funniest in years, an artfully precise comedy full of rapier-sharp wit. Ralph Fiennes delivers note-perfect timing as the charismatic concierge M. Gustave in a choreographed caper of art theft, murder and historical upheaval. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/mar/09/the-grand-budapest-hotel-review-wes-anderson) - **The New Yorker**, Richard Brody (80/100, inferred): The critic views the film as Anderson's artistic manifesto, exploring style, tradition, and decency amid historical upheaval. He praises the portrayal of Gustave H. and the concierges' code of conduct as a stand against catastrophe. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/the-grand-budapest-hotel-wes-andersons-artistic-manifesto) - **Time Out** (4/5): The review notes the film's shaggy-dog yarn delivers laughs and energy, making it Anderson's most fun since Rushmore, with a manic streak and strong comic work from Fiennes. It is called familiar in style but refreshing in tone and one of his very best. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-grand-budapest-hotel) - **Film Comment**, Jonathan Romney (75/100, inferred): The critic finds the film a refined, artificed work that successfully balances mechanical precision with indirect emotional and nostalgic content about lost worlds and memory. It singles out the layered narrative structure and framing devices for praise while acknowledging debates over its stylized approach to history. [Read](https://www.filmcomment.com/film-of-the-week-the-grand-budapest-hotel/) - **Empire**, Damon Wise: The Grand Budapest Hotel continues Anderson's upward curve with rich production design, a Russian-doll narrative structure, and Fiennes in a show-stopping role as the rakish concierge. It is stylised to a degree that may divide viewers but rewards those who enter its world, ranking among Anderson's better films. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/grand-budapest-hotel-review/) - **Sight and Sound**, Philip Kemp: The critic praises Anderson's intricate, detailed fabrication of a fictional Middle European world as his most complete yet, with visual and narrative riches alongside an undertone of loss. Fiennes' polymathic, comic performance as the concierge is singled out as a standout. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/film-week-grand-budapest-hotel) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Todd McCarthy: The critic praises Anderson's sympathetic portrayal of Old World grace and refinement battling 20th-century totalitarianism through arch and sophisticated farce. He singles out the film's dense aestheticization, meticulous design details, and formal techniques like varying aspect ratios and stylized camera moves. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/grand-budapest-hotel-film-review-677467/) - **The Independent**: The film is a whimsical thriller and might be Wes Anderson's greatest crowd-pleaser yet. It is warm, very funny, focused despite its multiple narrators and time periods, and propelled by kinetic energy; Fiennes gives a glorious performance as the vain but endearing concierge M. Gustave. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/wes-anderson-s-the-grand-budapest-hotel-debuts-at-berlin-film-festival-review-9112921.html) - **The New York Times**, A.O. Scott (Critic's Pick): The critic finds the film a delightful caper that deepens Anderson's signature style with greater ambition and emotional resonance. He singles out the inventive prison escape sequence involving pastries as quintessential Anderson. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/07/movies/wes-andersons-grand-budapest-hotel-is-a-complex-caper.html) - **Total Film**: Wes Anderson's follow-up to Moonrise Kingdom is arguably even better and his most adventurous yet. Familiar trademarks abound but unexpected moments shine, with strong ensemble work especially from Fiennes as the smooth-talking M. Gustave; fans will find him on dazzling form. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/the-grand-budapest-hotel-review/) - **Variety**: The critic hails the film as a captivating 1930s caper with sly intelligence and genuine soul beneath its artifice. He singles out Ralph Fiennes' brilliant, vital lead performance as the standout element. [Read](https://variety.com/2014/film/festivals/berlin-film-review-the-grand-budapest-hotel-1201088058/) - **Collider**, Matt Goldberg (A-): The film is the platonic ideal of a Wes Anderson picture: vibrant, witty, pristine, and a wonder to behold, uniting his signature stylized world with the darkness of early 20th-century Europe through magic and melancholy. It excels in technical elements, design, humor, tenderness, and Ralph Fiennes' performance as M. Gustave, though the emotional core between Gustave and Zero feels slightly calculated compared to some of Anderson's other works. [Read](https://collider.com/the-grand-budapest-hotel-review/) - **Den of Geek**, David Crow (4.5/5): The critic calls it a splendid and ambitious effort that is Anderson's most haunted and fully realized world to date. It singles out the central character study of M. Gustave, brought to life by Ralph Fiennes, along with the detailed fictional history and color palettes. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/the-grand-budapest-hotel-review/) - **/Film**, Germain Lussier (9/10): Anderson has made one of his best films by exploring storytelling itself through a self-referential caper that delights with absurdity and questions its own existence. The result is entertaining and fun on the surface while offering deeper implications about influence and originality. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/530511/grand-budapest-hotel-review/) - **The Playlist**, The Playlist Staff (B+): The film is an apotheosis of Anderson's aesthetic with minute care in every frame and a glorious sense of detail that floods the screen. It fell slightly short overall due to a lagging pace in the final third and a comedown from its initial high. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/review-wes-andersons-beautiful-melancholy-the-grand-budapest-hotel-20140307/) - **HeyUGuys**, Stefan Pape (4/5): The film offers tender charm and ineffable beauty that could win over critics of Anderson's style. Fiennes delivers a nuanced performance as the meticulous concierge in this whimsical, dreamlike world. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/the-grand-budapest-hotel-review/) ## Details - **Director:** Wes Anderson - **Director:** Wes Anderson - **Screenplay:** Wes Anderson - **Story:** Hugo Guinness, Wes Anderson - **Cinematography:** Robert Yeoman - **Editor:** Barney Pilling - **Music:** Alexandre Desplat, Simon Rhodes - **Production design:** Adam Stockhausen, Nathan Parker - **Costume design:** Milena Canonero - **Producer:** Wes Anderson, Steven Rales, Scott Rudin - **Cast:** Ralph Fiennes as M. Gustave; F. Murray Abraham as Mr. Moustafa; Tony Revolori as Zero; Adrien Brody as Dmitri; Willem Dafoe as Jopling; Mathieu Amalric as Serge X.; Jeff Goldblum as Deputy Kovacs; Harvey Keitel as Ludwig - **Runtime:** 1h 40m - **Certificate (MPA):** R - **Release (the US):** 7 March 2014 - **Genres:** Comedy, Drama - **Also in:** [Best Picture winners](https://film.one/collections/oscar-best-picture.md) (Nominee, 2014); [BAFTA Best Film winners](https://film.one/collections/bafta-best-film.md) (Nominee, 2014); [Golden Globe Best Musical or Comedy winners](https://film.one/collections/golden-globe-comedy.md) (Winner, 2014) - **Budget:** $30 million - **Box office:** $175 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1jG8HUY4zI ## Where to watch in the US - Amazon Prime Video: rent $2.99, hd - Apple TV: rent $2.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $4.99, hd - Apple TV: buy $4.99, hd *Checked 2026-09-15.* Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, IE, IL, IS, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, TR, UA, US, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Academy Awards 2015: Best Cinematography (nominated); Best Director (nominated); Best Film Editing (nominated); Best Picture (nominated); Best Writing, Original Screenplay (nominated); Best Costume Design (won); Best Makeup and Hairstyling (won); Best Original Score (won); Best Production Design (won) - Berlin International Film Festival 2014: Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize (won) ## If you liked this - *The Lady Vanishes* (1938), Fi1m 88: A trainbound mystery with dry comedy and danger pressing against respectable manners. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-lady-vanishes.md) - *To Be or Not to Be* (1942), Fi1m 87: Actors answer political terror with vanity, ingenuity and an unexpectedly sturdy sense of duty. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/to-be-or-not-to-be.md) - *Delicatessen* (1991), Fi1m 83: Macabre comedy in a carefully built miniature society, with tenderness among the grotesques. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/delicatessen.md) - *The Taste of Tea* (2004): A stranger, gentler family comedy for anyone drawn to painstakingly arranged everyday absurdity. - *The Darjeeling Limited* (2007): Another anxious journey where immaculate arrangements cannot quite contain grief or sibling resentment. --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-grand-budapest-hotel