The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

This is the Wes Anderson movie that gets me every time.

This time it got me through Chas. I first saw The Royal Tenenbaums at a foundational age, and it’s been my favorite Anderson ever since. But this year I’ve been feeling a lot of anger at my parents, and I needed to see a movie about adult children dealing with an emotionally negligent, distant father.

I really resonated with Chas this time. I think he’s the heart of the movie, and the only character who really grows. He’s angry the whole way through, at a father who shot him with a BB gun when he was a kid and left the BB in his hand, and Ben Stiller plays that anger very well.

At the end, Royal finally tells him, “Sorry I let you down, Chas. All of you.” Chas says, “I’ve had a rough year, Dad.” Royal says, “I know you have, Chassie.” Chas gets to say it and be heard. With as much anger at my own parents as I’ve got right now, it felt so good to watch his go somewhere and finally resolve.

I think the apology lands because Royal is a real son of a bitch, and that’s Gene Hackman. He didn’t want the part, he was furious about the pay, and by Bill Murray’s account he was “really rough” on his director. That pushback is the alchemy. Anderson’s movies are dollhouses, and Royal is the one thing in this one that won’t sit where he’s put, which makes it the most human film he’s made. It still touches the themes he keeps coming back to, and every piece of it just fucking works.

It’s still his hardest-hitting film for me.

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