The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

Director:

Wes Anderson

Writers (WGA):

Wes Anderson (written by) &
Owen Wilson (written by)

Release Date:

14 December 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

Family Isn't A Word... It's A Sentence.

Plot:

An estranged family of former child prodigies reunites when one of their member announces he has a terminal illness.

Plot Keywords:

Terminal Illness | Genius | Child Prodigy | Cuckold | Black Comedy

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 9 wins & 27 nominations

Cast

Gene Hackman	...	Royal Tenenbaum
Anjelica Huston	...	Etheline Tenenbaum
Ben Stiller	...	Chas Tenenbaum
Gwyneth Paltrow	...	Margot Tenenbaum
Luke Wilson	...	Richie Tenenbaum
Owen Wilson	...	Eli Cash
Bill Murray	...	Raleigh St. Clair
Danny Glover	...	Henry Sherman
Seymour Cassel	...	Dusty
Kumar Pallana	...	Pagoda
Alec Baldwin	...	Narrator (voice)
Grant Rosenmeyer	...	Ari Tenenbaum
Jonah Meyerson	...	Uzi Tenenbaum
Aram Aslanian-Persico	...	Young Chas Tenenbaum
Irene Gorovaia	...	Young Margot Tenenbaum

Also Known As:

Die Royal Tenenbaums (Austria) (Germany) [de]
La famille Tenenbaum (Canada: French title) (France) [fr]
Los excéntricos Tenenbaums (Argentina) (Peru) [es]
Genialny klan (Poland) [pl]
I Tenenbaum (Italy) [it]
Los tenenbaums: Una familia de genios (Spain) [es]
O familie geniala (Romania) [ro]
Oikogeneia Tenenbaum (Greece) [el]
Os Tenenbaums - Uma Comédia Genial (Portugal) [pt]
Os excêntricos Tenenbauns (Brazil) [pt]
Royal Tenenbaumit (Finland) (video title) [fi]
Taká zvlástna rodinka (Slovakia) [sk]
Taková zvlástní rodinka (Czech Republic) [cs]
Tenenbaum ailesi (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Tenenbaum, a háziátok (Hungary) [hu]

MPAA:

Rated R for some language, sexuality/nudity and drug content.

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Australia:M (TV rating) | Malaysia:18PL | Malaysia:U (cut) | Iceland:12 | Singapore:M18 (re-rating) | Philippines:PG-13 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba) | Canada:14A (Ontario) (video rating: 2004) | Canada:AA (Ontario) (original rating) | USA:R (certificate #38556) | Argentina:13 | Australia:MA | Brazil:14 | Finland:K-11 | France:U | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIB | Ireland:12 | Netherlands:MG6 | New Zealand:R13 | Norway:11 | Peru:14 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG (cut) | South Korea:15 | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15

Filming Locations:

144th Street & Convent Avenue, Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

American Empirical Pictures

Trivia:

Throughout the movie everyone wears the same clothing (or some variation of the same clothing). All of the clothing is also from the 1970s. Director Wes Anderson did this intentionally so that it would appear that the Tenenbaums are trapped in the era of their heyday while time moves on (the gravestone at the end reads 2001). Much of the setting, including the use of gypsy cabs and Green Line buses, are also in keeping with this theme.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Richie is seated and waiting for Margot to pick him up at the passenger ship terminal, the shot shows several sailors wearing dress white uniforms walk by behind him. After a shot of Margot, the next shot of Richie shows a porter behind him pushing a baggage cart. The sailors are nowhere to be seen.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: Royal Tenenbaum bought the house on Archer Avenue in the winter of his 35th year. Over the next decade, he and his wife had three children, and then they separated.

Movie Connections:

Featured in 50 Films to See Before You Die (2006) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Lullabye

Wonderful, hilarious and dark. A great film.

Writing/Director team Owen Wilson and Wes Anderson follow up their wonderful 1999 film Rushmore with something not completely different but altogether more satisfying and a good deal more powerful.

The Tenenbaums are a wealthy New York family of eccentric genuises, headed by Angelica Huston. The pater familias Gene Hackman has been kicked out and estranged from the family for twenty years. The film begins with a prologue detailing the lives of the Tenenbaum clan - Ben Stiller, the real estate genius and safety obsessive, now widowered with two boys. Luke Wilson a former tennis wunderkind, now an isolated, lonely character all alone in the world and Gwyneth Paltrow, the adopted daughter, playwright, depressive and all-round misery guts. Other players include Bill Murray, Owen Wilson and Danny Glover.

The excellent cast is testament to the fantastic script. Filled with one-liners, hilarious situations and visual gags, it is a real winner. However, it would be a mistake to take this for an out-and-out comedy. Two-thirds in, the script takes a turn for the utterly dark with a bloody, affecting scene, not to everyone's taste and at odds with the film gone beforehand. It's a brave move by Wilson and Anderson and one that pays off in dividends, elevating this movie above others in the genre.

Hackman gives as good as he's got as Royal Tenenbaum, who takes a turn for the better when his kids wake him up to the kind of man he really is. His transformation from manipulative and selfish to a genuinely lonely and honest man is wholly believable. When he emerges as the only man who can bring the whole family together again, it really brings a smile to your face. The rest of the cast, with the exception of Luke Wilson, aren't given a huge amount to do but do extremely well with what they've got. Luke Wilson is superb, playing the confused and alienated Richie, at odds with himself and the rest of his family. His is possibly the best character in the film, symbolising all that is wrong with the Tenanbaum clan.> As usual, The Royal Tenenbaums is rife with Anderson's distinctive directorial touches - 90 degree overhead shots, dialogue-free sequences played to classic rock anthems, and memorably, towards the end, a one-take canvas shot, as beautiful as it is inspired.

Special mention must also be given to the New York painted in the film. All Georgian houses, tree-lined avenues and flat sky lines, it's one of the most beautiful depections of this city ever seen in a movie.

All in all, a delighful tragi-comedy, with great characters, lush direction and great gags. Don't miss it!