Caution: Minor Spoilers ahead
Whenever there is a depiction of the country “India’ in the Western film industry, it always is represented by Vibrant & loud colors, heavy traditions, and a cultural & spiritual approach. Well, Wes Anderson‘s film ‘The Darjeeling Limited’ depicts Incredible India’s spiritual and energetic attitude with some prejudices. The movie follows the story of The Whitman’s, three dysfunctional brothers set to trip across India on a divine mystical journey to reconcile their sibling relationship. Due to the oldest brother Francis’s persuasion, the brothers Francis, Peter, and Jack meet on this tour a year after their father’s death. The brothers’ personal lives are tough since they are continually traumatized by their father’s death. The elder brother Francis came out of a tragic motorbike accident, Peter is not able to accept his fatherhood, and the youngest brother Jack, is still not able to move past his ex-girlfriend. Moving through India in ‘The Darjeeling Limited’ the brothers explore the terrains of Jodhpur, Udaipur, and the deserts of Rajasthan.
The architecture of the movie
As the movie revolves around the themes of grief and overcoming the grief, the color palette with the background score taken from Satyajit Ray’s adds massively to emote the feelings. The movie is set on a train journey; the first half showcases the brothers to be in a compartment literally and metaphorically. Pink lotuses and elephants painted throughout the bogies explore the cultural aesthetics of employing bright themes. Most of the movie showcases the train compartment with lavish interiors. However, the subtle teal blue and turquoise in the train subliminally translate the melancholy of the situation and the uneasiness and secrecy of the characters as the brothers are still reluctant about sharing their lives and continuing the odyssey. The completely extravagant railway compartment looks to confirm the idea of oriental grandeur aesthetically. The compartment, being a small space, provokes feelings of intense discomfort in the brothers’ relationship.
The Louis Vuitton Designer luggage that the brothers travel with is depicted to be overly heavy, symbolizing their familial loss and emotional load. As the novel continues, the characters migrate from small confines to deserts to mountains and wide settings, demonstrating their acceptance and opening up to one another. The brothers use the peacock feather correctly for a ceremony that serves as a metaphor for the brothers’ ability to restart and move on in their lives. The portrayal of India is too parochial as the characters are strictly following laminated itineraries for the spiritual conquest. Francis is prone to perceiving the deep in the ordinary, and he is one of many Westerners who assume they will discover something enlightened in the exotic. The touristy outlook portrays elephants, snakes, urban sprawl, massive garlands, and vermilion tilaks, where Peter even states “I love the way, this country smells. I’ll never forget it. It’s kind of spicy”. As the journey shifts from ‘The Darjeeling Limited’ to ‘The Bengal Lancer’ the color themes shift from blue-browns to white-grays to brown-orange, highlighting these characters coming out from grief to peace with their parents’ story moving on to being optimistic and joyful about their dysfunctional relationship.
The architecture of the characters
The elder brother Francis (played by Owen Wilson) is shown to have survived a major accident and hence has his face covered in bandages. He tries to control everything hence is shown in a proper suit with $3,000 shoes hiding behind his vulnerable side with excessive bandages gulping medicine and following every ritual possible to make things right. Peter (played by Adrien Broody) is facing difficulties in accepting the reality of his fatherhood and is shown by clinging to his father’s belongings where he uses his father’s prescription glasses to have a blurred vision of the world. The younger brother Jack (played by Jason Schwartzman) is a writer who writes fictionalized stories of his real-life incidents, is unable to get over his ex-girlfriend, and hence tries to get out of the smaller windows of his life by getting involved with the stewardess (played by Amara Karan). It is later revealed that Francis coaxed them on this trip to reunite with their mother (played by Angelica Huston) left the family to become a nun in the foothills of the Himalayas.
The other supporting characters including Brendan- Francis’ Assistant (played by Wallace Wolodarsky) the train crew, the people from the village, and the mourning father (played by Late Irrfan Khan) add to the dynamics of the relationship between the brothers. The production maintains it modest to address the baggage, the father’s belongings, the unprescribed pills, and Francis’ shoes and cane, which characterize the characters’ architecture.
The architecture of the scenes
The railway cabin has two partitions, one with a mirror and the other empty, depicting the brothers’ connection at the time, as two brothers conceal secrets from the third. The oriental character of the train adds to Peter’s preconceived notions about the excursion. In line with the Orientalist framework, the camera goes across rooftops full of cooing pigeons to the lively market in front of the temple. The colorful Auto-Rickshaws, Chai-Tea, metered Taxis, veiled ladies, and turbaned men contribute to the Odyssey’s Indian-ness.
The second half follows the brothers attending the Indian funeral of a young boy, and also beautifully depicts the atrocities of the poor lives. The small settlements with basic amenities, mud houses with thatch roofs with the hospitality of Incredible India. The Indian funeral and the funeral house setup provide a very humbling essence to the movie showcasing the brothers in their pastel pajama sets with white flowers. This turns out to be a crucial moment in their journey of recovery. In contrast to the dazzling blue walls and desolate setting, the bold melancholy-blue sepia color scheme transitions to one of whites and greys.
The train significantly symbolizes the life and journey going on and so their complexities shift from ignorance to acceptance. When the realization hits the three of the brothers to finally move on, they find themselves standing on top of the Hill of Rawla Narlai, hilariously addressing the ‘Elephant’ in the scene. The film’s cinemascope has a lot of realistic lighting, with the sunny locations and bright apparel that allowed for a more brilliant color palette.
This film is primarily reliant on symbolism and analogies. It’s a bittersweet blend of comedy and drama that covers the entire gamut of human emotions, including humor, sadness, and everything in between. The vision of The Darjeeling Limited fluctuates between light humor and dreadful drama. The brothers will start arguing in a split second. The next thing you know, they’ll be anxiously seeking to continue their voyage. Overall, the movie may be summarized by the sentence, also said in the film, “We haven’t located us yet.” It’s a wildly exuberant and amazing small work of art with power in the details.
References
- Crabtree, B. (2022). How ‘The Darjeeling Limited’ Uses Cross-Cultural Experiences to Explore Familial Grief. [online] Collider. Available at: https://collider.com/darjeeling-limited-explores-familial-grief/.
- Hunter (2013). The Darjeeling Limited. [online] The Soul of the Plot. Available at: https://thesouloftheplot.wordpress.com/2013/07/03/the-darjeeling-limited/.
- Morgan, M. (2022). ‘The Darjeeling Limited’: In search of what’s missing. [online] Art Of Conversation. Available at: https://www.artofconversation.net/post/darjeeling-limited.
- platoscavesonline (2016). The Darjeeling Limited. [online] Plato’s Caves online. Available at: https://platoscavesonline.wordpress.com/2016/11/03/the-darjeeling-limited/.
- Williams, O. (2021). In Defence of The Darjeeling Limited. [online] Flexible Head. Available at: https://medium.com/flexible-head/in-defence-of-the-darjeeling-limited-ca0f5acd65c9.
