The Darjeeling Limited *************************** Directed by - Wes Anderson Produced by - Wes Anderson Scott Rudin Roman Coppola Written by - Wes Anderson Roman Coppola Jason Schwartzman ::Starring:: ****************** Owen Wilson -- Francis Whitman Adrien Brody -- Peter Whitman Jason Schwartzman -- Jack Whitman Anjelica Huston -- Sister Patricia Whitman Waris Ahluwalia -- The Chief Steward Amara Karan -- Rita Natalie Portman -- Jacks ex Wallace Wolodarsky -- Brendan Bill Murray -- The Businessman Camilla Rutherford -- Alice Whitman Barbet Schroeder -- The Mechanic Irrfan Khan -- The Father Cinematography - Robert D. Yeoman *************************** : : Others In Brief : : *************************** Studio Indian Paintbrush Distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures Release dates October 26, 2007 Running time 91 minutes Country United States Language English Budget $17.5 million[1] Box office $35,078,918 : : Story : : ******************** A businessman in India (Bill Murray) fails to catch his train as it pulls out of a station. He is beaten to it by a younger man, Peter Whitman (Adrien Brody), who is carrying heavy luggage. Peter reunites with his brothers Francis (Owen Wilson) and Jack (Jason Schwartzman) on the luxury train called The Darjeeling Limited, which is traveling across India. The brothers have not seen each other since their fathers funeral. Francis, the oldest of the three brothers, has planned their journey in advance. The journey is supposed to culminate in a reunion with their mother (Anjelica Huston), but Francis tells his brothers that they are making the journey for spiritual self-discovery. He tells them of a motorcycle crash that he was in, which explains the reasons for the bandages on his head, and saying that he technically died, and wants to reconnect to his brothers. His brothers are not convinced of this, and get annoyed with Francis controlling behaviour such as choosing from the menu for them or making their decisions without their input, which turns out to be a trait inherited from their mother. It is clear that the three do not really trust one another (Jack plans to leave the trip early, Peter is hiding the fact that his wife is pregnant). With his assistant Brendans help, Francis draws up an itinerary for the trip and takes his brothers passports to prevent them from getting off the train too early. The youngest Whitman, Jack, has written a short story which is similar to his own life, but he denies the similarities. He obsessively listens to the messages on his ex-girlfriends answering machine at every train stop. Moreover, he has a fling with the trains stewardess Rita (Amara Karan), whom Francis nicknames Sweet Lime for the drinks she offers. Peter, the middle brother, justifies his keeping many of his late fathers possessions (his glasses, his keys) by claiming that he was their fathers favorite. His wife, Alice (Camilla Rutherford), is expecting a baby, but Peter fears that their relationship may end in divorce. In their trips through the Indian provinces, Francis has one of his loafers stolen by a shoe-shine boy; Peter buys a cobra, which later escapes from its transport container. This escape results in the brothers being confined to their cabins in the train. Francis and Peter get into a fight over the latter being their fathers favorite and Jack uses pepper spray, trying to stop the fight. The trains Chief Steward (Waris Ahluwalia), whom the three brothers have repeatedly annoyed, throws the three of them off the train with all their luggage. Jack is sad to leave Rita, who did not want to carry on her relationship with him before. She asks him what is wrong with him, and he replies that he is not sure and will tell her the next time he sees her. On their way back to civilization, the brothers see three young boys fall into a river while attempting to pull a raft across it. Jack and Francis rescue two of the boys, but Peter fails to save the third, who dies. This affects Peter deeply. In the boys small village, where nobody really speaks English, the three brothers spend the night and are befriended by the villagers. They attend the boys funeral. In a flashback, the three brothers and Alice are in a car, going to their fathers funeral. They stop to pick up their fathers Porsche from the repair shop, but the car is not ready so the brothers leave. They find a suitcase of his things in the trunk. It is reveled that their fathers death was a result of him getting hit by a car, and that their mother did not attend the funeral. During their time at the repair shop, the three brothers as theyre grieving, get into a confrontation with a truck driver. Jack forgoes his fathers funeral and impulsively skips town for Paris. Back in the present, the Whitmans get on a bus, which takes them from the village to the airport. However, they rip up their tickets and decide to go visit their mother. She is a nun at a Christian abbey in India. The reunion is very emotional (it is learned that Franciss accident was, in fact, a suicide attempt) and the family is reunited for a time. The next morning, the three brothers find that their mother has left, after leaving the boys their breakfast. They find out that apparently, she leaves for a while sometimes. On the way back the three brothers run for a train, and jettison all their baggage on the railway line as they and some porters run after the train. Jack reads his new short story, and gives in, accepting that it is representative of his own life. Francis wants to give the passports back to his brothers, but the brothers decide that the passports are safer with him. Themes and motifs ************************ The Darjeeling Limited includes many of Andersons signature themes and styles, such as despair, abandonment, sibling relationships, a privileged class who rarely work, and timeless fashions and props. Anderson has revealed that The River by Jean Renoir, the films of Satyajit Ray and documentaries on India by Louis Malle were his inspirations for this movie. The film was dedicated to Satyajit Ray and makes allusions to him and his work (e.g., the portrait of Ray in the compartment of the train Bengal Lancer towards the end of the film).
Posted on: Thu, 17 Apr 2014 03:00:49 +0000