Wes Anderson's 'The French Dispatch' Debuts in Italy

Wes Anderson's film 'The French Dispatch' has been released in Italian cinemas by Walt Disney, following its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in July 2021. The anthology film features four stories, the first of which focuses on art: art critic and historian J.K.L. Berensen (Tilda Swinton) recounts the tale of Moses Rosenthaler (Benicio Del Toro), a mentally disturbed artist who becomes world-famous while serving a murder sentence in a maximum-security prison in Ennui. His career is owed to prison guard Simone (Léa Seydoux), who acts as his unconventional muse, lover, and de facto commander. The cast also includes Adrien Brody, Frances McDormand, Timothée Chalamet, and Lyna Khoudri. Anderson stated that the inspiration came from 'The New Yorker' magazine, which he read as a child, and that the film is an homage to journalism but not about journalism. He noted that the film uses both black-and-white and color, changing screen format and dimensions as needed. The black-and-white scenes were influenced by actress Michel Simon, whom Anderson had only seen in black-and-white. Anderson also cited Vittorio De Sica's 'L'oro di Napoli' as an inspiration for the anthology format, a tradition he associates with Italian cinema, including Fellini and Visconti. He revealed that he finished shooting his next film in Spain two weeks prior, though it is set in the United States, and expressed a desire to return to Cinecittà in Rome for a future project.