The Darjeeling Limited (2007)

I really loved this movie. For those of you that don’t know The Darjeeling Limit is the new Wes Anderson movie (his fifth movie). Anderson is wildly successful with people my age and around it. It stars some of Anderson's favorites such as Owen Wilson (Bottle Rocket, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic), Jason Schwartzman (Rushmore), and Adrien Brody. If you are a fan of the director you will be very pleased.

I have seen this movie twice so far and I think I can see it again. It is one of those movies which some people will take nothing away from it and others will take everything from it. I am in the later category.


There was so much liked about it. I think, first was the characterization. Francis, Peter and Jack Whitman are such developed characters that they feel like real people. The actors worked well together, and executed a perfectly witty and brilliant script. Of course, some might see a train ride around India where three rich American brothers look for spiritual inspiration to be boring and pretentious. It depends how much symbolism you want in a film. Also, it depends on what you find to be funny. If you only like Superbad/American pie/sitcom humor, again this might not be your cup of tea. The Darjeeling Limit extenuates the quirks of very smart and neurotic people. Most characters in Wes Anderson are creative, intelligent, and successful who are incredible sad. This movie was in some ways like a Chekhov play, in that there is a great humor and even happiness in tragedy. Like a Neil Simon play without the one liners and zingers.


All three brothers are incredibly damaged people. The Owen Wilson character Francis, shows it physically as he is covered in bandages throughout the movie. All three are morning the death of their father who died. He was hit by a cab on 72nd Street in New York City. Their mother who had always left them, missed the funeral. Francis, the oldest, tries to put back their family back together. He brings back together his estranged brothers who have been living very separate lives and brings them to India where there estranged Mother is living as a Nun.


Interestingly enough, we meet the mother towards the end of the film. After that, all the characters makes sense, and why they do what they do makes sense. Francis has become the mother. He organizes and handles his brothers just like their mother does. Peter, played by Adrien Brody, abandons his wife for longs periods without warning, even when she is pregnant. Finally Jack, the youngest and played by Jason Schwartzman, has stayed in his childlike relationship with his mother, by getting into relationships with unhealthy women who use him and mess with his mind. He finds them everywhere he goes. Despite being an unhealthy relationship with his ex-girlfriend, played by Natalie Portman,he meets an Indian girl (played by my co-worker’s ex-college girlfriend) on the train that also uses him. She becomes a microcosm of his relationship with women. She is with him physically but not emotionally.

In the end, the brothers do find each other, as Francis’ puts it as he takes off his bandages in the only time of the film, there is a lot more healing to do.

You will find a lot of what you love about a Wes Anderson film here. There is the great use of color. There are very developed characters. Bill Murray. There is great use of music, and what I refer to as the bad-ass scene, which is when the main characters are moving with the music attitude of a song. I also call this the pimp-sequence.

One of the things I liked best about this film is how purposeful it was. Everything about it, whether failed or successful, was executed with purpose and confidence. No scene in the film seemed to be in there without having a point, whether it is by the actors or the cinematography.


I found the movie to be a beguiling happy movie. Like the others Anderson films mentioned above, it was similar in its style and explication. This time the movie is set on the relationship of three brothers who have been deserted by their mother and their father had passed away. You are left with plenty to think about, and you care about the characters and wonder how they will turn out. Hopefully they are in a better place than before. You feel happy and a little calmer after the film.