The Phoenician Scheme Review

The Phoenician Scheme is Wes Anderson’s 13^th film as a writer-director. This time, he takes his trademark style to the espionage genre.

Zsa-zsa Korda (Benicio del Toro) is an industrialist, arms dealer, and the richest man in Europe. He had also made many enemies, and after a sixth attempt on his life, Korda sets out to make his estranged daughter, Liesl (Mia Threapleton), his heir. When a cartel of tycoons and US government officials attempts to sabotage Korda’s business, forcing Korda to go to Phoenician to salvage his infrastructure scheme in Phoenician. This trip also allows Korda to bond with his daughter and teach her the tricks of his trade.

Anderson is a revered filmmaker with credits including Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, and Fantastic Mr. Fox. He’s a director many actors want to work with; he was able to work with Bill Murphy 11 times. Anderson has a distinctive style that Family Guy parodied, and it can be argued that he has an overly familiar set of storytelling and visual tricks.

The Phoenician Scheme can be described as quirky with a capital-Q. It was a film filled with quirky characters, dialogue, and scenarios. It was amusing in a screwball, offbeat manner, from Korda surviving his first assassination attempt, his unorthodox methods of parenting, and placing the fate of a business deal on a game of HORSE. There was a running gag throughout the film where Korda gifted his business partners with a hand grenade.

The Phoenician Scheme had a more focused story compared to his previous films. Many of his films featured multiple characters in different locations who were conversing towards the same point. The Phoenician Scheme was about the relationship between Korda and his daughter and how he tried to reconcile with her. There was a clash of personalities since Korda was an amoral businessman who would do anything in the name of profit, and Liesl was set to be a nun, so morality and ethics were her main concerns. The thrust of the film was Korda developing his conscious, and realising there was more to life than money. The film was inspired by Anderson’s relationship with his daughter, so it was a personal film for him.

When The Phoenician Scheme extended beyond the core story, it faltered. Anderson did not seem interested in the subplots he set up, like Liesl’s parentage and the various shadowy forces trying to destroy Korda and his business.

Del Toro and Threapleton had a great on-screen relationship. Korda tried to mentor his daughter to be as ruthless as he was, but Liesl resisted at every turn. Liesl was strong-willed and willing to speak her mind whilst keeping her poise. Threapleton has a growing reputation, appearing in I Am Ruth with her mother, Kate Winslet, and The Phoenician Scheme gave the young actress her first leading role.

The majority of the film saw Korda and Liesl travel across Phoenician and meet various business partners. These business people felt more like guest appearances by big-name actors who were given distinctive characteristics, like Tom Hanks and Bryan Cranston being a pair of basketball playing brothers, and Jeffrey Wright played a jolly ship captain. Scarlett Johansson played an empty and forgettable role and seemed to be in the film to add some star power. Johansson was in Anderson’s previous theatrical film, so they had an established working relationship.

Anderson has been known for having a distinctive visual style. His films have often been colourful and filled with symmetrical framing. In comparison to his previous films, The Phoenician Scheme did not feel as visually interesting or detailed as his previous films. The most visually unique part of the film was when Korda briefly visited Heaven. These sequences were filmed in black-and-white and looked and felt like an Ingmar Bergman film since Korda met various saints and made offerings.

The Phoenician Scheme was an amusing film that could entertain, but it was one of Anderson’s lesser films.