Brothers and Their Baggage in Darjeeling
“Is that my belt?”
“Can I borrow it?”
“No, not right now I was looking for it… ask first, next time!”
Francis Whitman (Owen Wilson) reclaims his property from his younger brother, Peter (Adrien Brody) in front a quiet Jack (Jason Schwartzmanin), in the middle of a gorup of devotional souls in prayer at a Jodhpur shrine. The three slightly deranged siblings, have traveled together from their homes in America to India. The trip began in Jodhpur and ended in Udaipur . They haven’t seen each other for over a year since the death of their father in a car accident. As they travel through India, they carry their dead father’s luggage (a set of Louis Vuitton luggage Marc Jacobs designed especially for the movie).
The luggage is printed with a jungle pattern created by 38-year old movie director Wes Anderson’s brother, Eric, and is being auctioned off at the Louis Vuitton store on East 57th Street in New York, through September 27. Proceeds will go to UNICEF and the Rawal Mallinathji Foundation — a medical treatment charity in India.
Now, they are all aboard a transport train called the Darjeeling Limited. The oldest brother, Francis, says, “We’re here to find ourselves and bond with each other. Can we agree to that?” With the help of his assistant, he has drawn up a list of spiritual places to visit.
The brothers believe that their father, played by Bill Murray (who went remarkably unnoticed in the two weeks of shooting in Jodhpur) has been reincarnated as an albino leopard, and trace their mother to a convent where she teaches poor children. The convent where the “belt” scene takes place, is recreated in Nahar Magra, in a hunting lodge on the property of the former Maharana of Mewar—which after being closed for 40 years was cleaned up in eight days for the crew to use—the convent’s chapel was painstakingly put together in an open courtyard, using Tangail sarees, wooden benches from an antique warehouse in Jodhpur, with parakeets and pigeons brought all the way from the US.
The level of detail is extraordinary, says Aradhana Seth, (see her interview in Joelle’s Picks below) who is working with Mark Friedberg on production design. Anderson wanted to paint the train bogeys (The Darjeeling Limited is the name of the train the boys take to travel through India) in the style of trucks he had seen on Indian highways. Seth auditioned several painters before selecting one-who ended up painting portraits of the stars as well, especially mocked up for the film, a hybrid of the old U.S. 20th Century Limited and the Orient Express with regional patterns and colors, and not remotely like the air-conditioned models of modern India.
The eldest brother, Francis has planned a detailed itinerary that will allow them to see their mother and on the way hit all the key Indian sources of spiritual renewal on brief railway stops aboard the titular train. If it’s Rajasthan, it must be enlightenment. The boys jump off and on quite a bit and run up small hills trying to communicate with ancient spirits. Childhood rivalries and irksome personality ticks immediately surface, although they all agree on the need for cigarettes and the best of India’s over-the-counter medications.
Although Francis tries unsuccessfully to orchestrate a spiritual epiphany at various religious sites, they finally break out of the cocoon of family squabbling when tragedy strikes the three boys while rafting down a river. What happens next draws the Whitman brothers into the arms of a community where they slow down and reach out to others in a spiritual way.
The final leg of their journey turns out to be a reunion with their mother (Anjelica Huston) who has become a Catholic nun in a Himalayan convent. She essentially tells them to quit obsessing about the past. But that means leaving a lot of baggage behind and traveling lighter. This spunky spiritual comedy ends with this metaphor and sends us on our way rejoicing for the Whitman brothers and their yearning for a new life.
The pretensions surrounding this production begin with a 13-minute short film titled “Hotel Chavalier” that was screened ahead of the main feature at the Venice International Film Festival. It will be shown at other festivals and on the Internet, and be included on the eventual DVD , but it will not play in theaters when the picture is released.
Set in a hotel in Paris, the short film shows a brief encounter between the youngest brother, Jack (Schwartzman) and his on-and-off girlfriend (Natalie Portman). It has no significance though except as a platform for the great 1960s anthem “Where Do You Go to My Lovely?” by Peter Sarstedt.
Sources: Kaveree Bamzai, Light, acamera, India /www.naachgaana.com / Ray Bennett : Bottom Line: A train ride without laughs or charm. //www.hollywoodreporter.com/
The Jewelry Designer: Waris Ahluwalia / House of waris
The Video: Production Day 8: A Walking Tour of the Train:
The music :
The soundrack : The Dargeeling Limited /http://www.amazon.com/Darjeeling-Limited-Satyajit-Ray/dp/B000VAT032/ref=sr_11_1/002-9178676-3108063?ie=UTF8&qid=1192201474&sr=11-1
Where do You go To My Lovely / Peter Starstedt : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqLH2Sjatn0
The Film:
The Darjeeling Limited Directed by Wes Anderson Fox Searchlight 09/07 THE DARJEELING LIMITED
Fox Searchlight
American Empirical Pictures
Director: Wes Anderson
Writers: Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola & Jason Schwartzman
Producers: Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Roman Coppola, Lydia Dean Pilcher
Executive producer: Steven Rales
Director of photography: Robert Yeoman
Production designer: Mark Friedberg
Music: From the films of Satyajit Ray and Merchant Ivory
Costume designer: Milena Canonero
Editor: Andrew Weisblum
Cast:
Francis: Owen Wilson
Peter: Adrien Brody
Jack: Jason Schwartzman
Rita: Amara Karan
Brendan: Wally Wolodarsky
Chief Steward: Waris Ahluwalia
Father: Irrfan Khan
Mechanic: Barbet Schroeder
Alice: Camilla Rutherford
Businessman: Bill Murray
Patricia: Anjelica Huston
