Lost in the middle of the desert, the city of Asteroid City was so named because of the crater which adjoins it. With only a gas station, a motel, an unfinished highway ramp and a space observation center, the place is hosting a group of children these days. These little geniuses are here for a scientific competition. Two of the parents, Augie, a widowed war photographer, and Midge, a divorced movie star, are fond of each other, as are Woodrow and Dinah, their respective offspring. However, all this is only a teletheatre written by a playwright who has recovered his inspiration. The same cannot be said of Wes Anderson, the filmmaker at work beyond this mise en abyme.
Indeed, if he invites moviegoers to an imaginary place, the director remains resolutely in his comfort zone. This is not a bad thing in itself.
In fact, Wes Anderson has developed a style as characteristic as it is recognizable that we cannot do without. That said style is now, to the chagrin of the principal concerned, parodied and pastiche by artificial intelligence software, constitutes the proof, if any, of a successful passage in popular culture.
Visually, therefore, it is once again candy, with this artificiality so neat that it borders on goldsmithery. The city’s decor, from the scattered buildings to the surrounding desert panorama, resembles an old postcard from the 1950s with oversaturated colors.
This, in contrast to the (fictitious) reality in black and white, where we witness various key moments in the writing of the play, the vagaries of its staging and other dramas behind the scenes. The disparities between the performers and their characters are sometimes very funny.
United children, lost parents
As usual, the many stars deliver deliciously offbeat numbers. Along the way, other big names pop up for a hello—sometimes it becomes a distraction. Anderson goes there, however, with beautiful nods to the masters of yesteryear, such as these plans and lighting at the Citizen Kaneby Orson Welles, or even these frontal compositions à la Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Brusselsby Chantal Akerman (Scarlett Johansson’s poses at her window, very Delphine Seyrig in the kitchen of the said film).
By its characters and its broad lines, and excluding the metanarrative component, Asteroid City (VF) is very close to Moonrise Kingdom and a bit of Rushmoretwo of the best vintages of the filmmaker that this film will not join in the pantheon.
Thus, Anderson again pays homage to childhood through a band of young people who act with more maturity and wisdom than their parents. Because in Asteroid City, when an incredible event occurs and the city is quarantined (in a metaphor for the recent pandemic), they are the first to find solutions. Even well-intentioned, even loving, adults act with stupidity or narcissism.
Quite the opposite of children, who unite in adversity. Obviously, the filmmaker is more comfortable in their company.
Impression of detachment
In this respect, the treatment given to the two kisses exchanged in the film is revealing. When teens Woodrow and Dinah kiss, Anderson favors a classic close-up that enhances the romantic atmosphere. When, beyond the play, the playwright and one of the actors do the same, the camera never stops moving away.
It’s not a question of discomfort with the homosexuality displayed: to show that Augie and Midge have made love, Anderson will limit himself to a shot where, on one side, only the feet of the woman lying appear in the frame, facing the man who is getting dressed on the other side.
It’s as if the director was comfortable with the feeling of love and its manifestations only when it is imbued with innocence. Paradoxically, this kind of nostalgic ideal places Wes Anderson in the same position of emotional immaturity as his adult characters.
From then on, this famous style of the director, past the attractive facade, only exacerbates an impression of reserve, even of detachment. It happens, as in Moonrise Kingdom, Rushmore, The Grand Budapest Hotel (Hotel the Grand Budapest) Or The French dispatch (The French Dispatch of Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun), that this turns into an additional advantage.
Less inspired than these titles, Asteroid Cityas before him the finicky but minor Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, reveals the limits of Wes Anderson’s cinema. This results in a visually stunning, yet dramatically hollow film.