Wes Anderson at the Cinémathèque Française

Wes Anderson is known for his highly distinctive visual style and his attention to detail. Every scene is carefully composed, every prop purposefully designed. This is what I like about his work. When Anderson wanted to reshoot some scenes for his first feature length film, Bottle Rocket, the production company told him that all the film’s props had been sold off. From that moment on Anderson decided to hold on to the props for all of his films. A selection of these items is currently on show at the Cinémathèque française in Paris, from the costumes in The Royal Tenenbaums and a map of the island of New Penzance in Moonrise Kingdom to the telegrams and the police report from The Grand Budapest Hotel.

The exhibition is a treasure trove for Wes Anderson fans. I enjoyed seeing the fictional covers for The French Dispatch and the equally fictional books and magazines from The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and Moonrise Kingdom. There are storyboards, preparatory sketches and models. The exhibition is chronologically organized and also includes excerpts from each film.

One of the highlights of the exhibition is the model of the Grand Budapest Hotel used in the film’s opening scene. Another highlight is “Boy with Apple” by Johannes van Hoytl the Younger, also from The Grand Budapest Hotel, which was painted by British artist Michael Taylor. Also included are Sam’s paintings of Suzy and American landscapes from Moonrise Kingdom, which were painted by Ashar Liftin, a student at St. Anne’s middle school in Brooklyn. Ahead of the shoot, a search was conducted to find a 12 year old who could paint Sam’s watercolours. This is what I love about Wes Anderson.

I particularly enjoyed seeing the actual puppets that were used in Fantastic Mr. Fox, Wes Anderson’s first stop motion animation film. Anderson insisted on using real trees for the set design and real animal fibers for the puppets’ fur and whiskers. The investment paid off and Fantastic Mr. Fox is now regarded as one of Anderson’s most accomplished films.

It’s a wonderful exhibition and I wish I had lingered longer. With hindsight going on a Saturday afternoon was not such a good idea. I had to queue for almost 40 minutes before I could enter. I therefore recommend arriving 30 minutes before your reserved time slot. When I visited the catalogue was not available yet, but it is due out soon.

Wes Anderson is at the Cinémathèque française in Paris until 27 July 2025. The exhibition will travel on to the Design Museum in London where it will be on show from 21 November 2025 until 26 July 2026.