The Royal Tenenbaums
| The Royal Tenenbaums | |
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 The Royal Tenenbaums | |
| Directed by | Wes Anderson |
| Written by | Wes Anderson Owen Wilson |
| Produced by | Wes Anderson Barry Mendel Scott Rudin |
| Starring | Gene Hackman Anjelica Huston Gwyneth Paltrow Ben Stiller Luke Wilson Owen Wilson Danny Glover Bill Murray |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures |
Release dates |  December 4, 2001 December 28, 2001 March 14, 2002 March 15, 2002  May 7, 2002 |
Running time | 109 min |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $28,000,000 (estimated) |
The Royal Tenenbaums is the 2001 comedy about three genius siblings who experience great success in youth, and even greater disappointment and failure after their eccentric father leaves them in their adolescent years.
Plot
The father, Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman), returns to his family more than a decade later, faking a case of stomach cancer, after he is evicted from his room at the Lindbergh Palace Hotel and disbarred from practicing law. The film is the story of how Royal comes back to his family to save them from the unexpected wreckage of their lives.
Also of note is that the siblings of the Tenenbaum family — all highly intelligent, disillusioned "New Yorkers" struggling with their own identities — are loosely based on a rabble of similarly disillusioned siblings from the later books of famed author J.D. Salinger. The Glass family, comprised of seven child-prodigy-turned-adult-misanthrope characters, is the central subject of three of Salinger's five published books, and form the basis for the quirky and unhappy Tenenbaum family, as director Wes Anderson revealed in an interview with Premiere magazine conducted in January 2001.
The film features an unusually large number of stars in the cast, which includes Anjelica Huston as Etheline Tenenbaum, Owen Wilson as Eli Cash, Luke Wilson as Richie Tenenbaum, Ben Stiller as Chas Tenenbaum, Gwyneth Paltrow as Margot Tenenbaum, Danny Glover as Henry Sherman, and Bill Murray as Raleigh St. Clair. Alec Baldwin narrates.
Gene Hackman won a Golden Globe for his performance and the screenplay by Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson was nominated for an Academy Award.
A rather off-beat, ironic sense of humor pervades the entire film, as with all of Anderson's work, manifest as a tone of hilarious tragedy and as pleasure taken in the small joys of conversation and camaraderie.
Other films by Anderson include Bottle Rocket (1996) and Rushmore (1998), which were co-written by Anderson and Owen Wilson, and more recently The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), written by Anderson and Noah Baumbach. As with these other efforts, the music of The Royal Tenenbaums is partly composed and compiled by Devo member Mark Mothersbaugh.
Characters
Some Royal Tenenbaums characters are lovable, others despicable, but all are quirky and, in an odd way, hilarious. Their openly emotional exchanges and frustrations are the focus of this film.
- Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman) - An excellent lawyer but a terrible father, he intentionally shot one of his sons with a BB gun during a game, and consistently and irrelevantly refers to his "adopted daughter Margot Tenenbaum". He often took his favorite son Richie to dog fights and excluded his other children. He was briefly imprisoned.
- Etheline Tenenbaum (Anjelica Huston) - The mother of the Tenenbaum children, who "makes their education her top priority" and helps them climb to fame. Later on, Ethel finds love in Henry Sherman, her accountant, the complete opposite of her estranged husband Royal.
- Chas Tenenbaum (Ben Stiller) - A genius in international finance, Chas sued his father twice and had him disbarred because of the bonds his father stole from his safety deposit box when he was fourteen. His wife died in a plane crash and he has since become obsessed with the safety of Ari and Uzi, his sons. They have a dog named Buckley.
- Margot Tenenbaum (Gwyneth Paltrow) - A brilliant playwright, Margot ran away from home for two weeks and came back with half of one of her fingers missing. She married the neurologist Raleigh St. Clair and spends most of her time moping in her bathtub, watching television. She smokes, unbeknown to anyone else in her family. Possibly based partially on Françoise Sagan and/or Franny Glass.
- Richie Tenenbaum (as an adult, Luke Wilson; as a child, Amedeo Turturro) - A tennis prodigy, Richie is secretly in love with his adopted sister, Margot. Upon seeing Margot with her husband, Raleigh St. Clair, at one of his tennis matches, Richie has a nervous breakdown on court in front of thousands of fans. He has been living on an ocean liner for several months at the beginning of the movie. He drinks Bloody Marys with pepper throughout the movie.
- Eli Cash (Owen Wilson) - A "friend of the family" since the Tenenbaum children were very young, Eli has a burning desire to "be a Tenenbaum," and sent his college grades to Etheline, as well as his press clippings after gaining success as an author of Western novels; his latest work presupposes the outcome if Custer didn't die at Little Bighorn. Cash is attracted to Margot Tenenbaum and has a drug problem.
- Henry Sherman (Danny Glover) - Ethel Tenenbaum's accountant and, eventually, romantic interest.
- Raleigh St. Clair (Bill Murray) - Husband of the secretive Margot Tenenbaum and famed (and strange) neurologist. Anderson has mentioned that St. Clair was based on Oliver Sacks.
- Narrator (Alec Baldwin)
Soundtrack
The soundtrack to The Royal Tenenbaums contains a style typical of other Wes Anderson films. Mark Mothersbaugh did the score for the soundtrack and the film also features many rock songs from the 1960s-'70s.
There have been two soundtrack releases for The Royal Tenenbaums. The first, in 2001, was well-received by most critics, though some songs were excepted; notably, Paul Simon's "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard", Van Morrison's "Everyone", John Lennon's "Look At Me", The Mutato Muzika Orchestra's version of The Beatles' "Hey Jude" and two Rolling Stones tracks.
In 2002, the soundtrack was re-released with four songs not found on the 2001 release, but the two songs found in the film by The Rolling Stones ("She Smiled Sweetly", "Ruby Tuesday") were still not on the soundtrack. This is because while The Rolling Stones allow their music to be used in film, they do not allow their material to appear on any soundtracks. Also, the soundtrack was still missing the Van Morrison track, which served as the closing credits song in the film.
Soundtrack Trivia
- There are eight songs that appear in the film that do not appear on the 2002 soundtrack.
- On the 2001 release of the soundtrack, there is a track titled "Lindbergh Palace Suite" by Mark Mothersbaugh. On the 2002 release of the soundtrack, this track has been renamed "Sonata For Cello And Piano In F Minor" by The Mutato Muzika Orchestra.
- In some of Margot's scenes, "Christmas Time is Here" from the cartoon version of Charlie Brown's Christmas special plays occasionally in the background.
- "Everyone" by Van Morrison wasn't initially Wes Anderson's first pick as the closing credits track. He originally had The Beach Boys' "Sloop John B" in mind.
- Many scenes were written specifically for certain songs. Gwyneth Paltrow walking in slow motion towards the camera was a scene that Wes Anderson had in mind soon after hearing "These Days" by Nico before he had even written the script.
- Wes Anderson was going to open the film with the original "Hey Jude" recording by The Beatles. Unfortunately, George Harrison had died during production of the film, making it difficult to acquire permission to use the track. Subsequently, plans for an Elliott Smith cover of the song fell through due to Smith's depression and drug problems. Eventually, Mark Mothersbaugh's orchestra recorded the track.
- Clash songs are only played in the presence of Eli throughout the movie.
Complete Soundtrack List
The following is a complete list of songs that appear in The Royal Tenenbaums in order of appearance.
- "111 Archer Avenue" by Mark Mothersbaugh
- "Hey Jude" by The Mutato Muzika Orchestra
- "String Quartet In F Major (Second Movement)" by Ravel Ysaye Quartet
- "Sonata For Cello And Piano In F Minor" by The Mutato Muzika Orchestra
- "Look At Me" by John Lennon
- "Christmas Time Is Here (Instrumental)" by Vince Guaraldi Trio
- "I'm Dying" by Mark Mothersbaugh
- "These Days" by Nico
- "Something's Brewing" by Mark Mothersbaugh
- "Look At That Old Grizzly Bear" by Mark Mothersbaugh
- "Police & Thieves" by The Clash
- "Wigwam" by Bob Dylan
- "Mothersbaugh's Canon" by Mark Mothersbaugh
- "Gymnopedie #1" by Erik Satie
- "Lullabye" by Emitt Rhodes
- "Raleigh & Margot" by Mark Mothersbaugh
- "Me & Julio Down By The Schoolyard" by Paul Simon
- "Scrapping & Yelling" by Mark Mothersbaugh
- "Pagoda's Theme" by Mark Mothersbaugh
- "Billy - Main Title" by Bob Dylan
- "Judy is a Punk" by The Ramones
- "Needle In The Hay" by Elliott Smith
- "How Can I Help (a.k.a. Sparkplug Minuet, 1st Movement)" by Mark Mothersbaugh
- "Fly" by Nick Drake
- "She Smiled Sweetly" by The Rolling Stones
- "Ruby Tuesday" by The Rolling Stones
- "Stephanie Says" by The Velvet Underground
- "Rock The Casbah" by The Clash
- "I Always Wanted To Be A Tenenbaum" by Mark Mothersbaugh
- "Christmas Time Is Here (Vocal)" by Vince Guaraldi Trio
- "Rachel Evans Tenenbaum (1965-2000)" by Mark Mothersbaugh
- "Chas Chases Eli" by Mark Mothersbaugh
- "Sparkplug Minuet" by Mark Mothersbaugh
- "Rooftop Talk (a.k.a. I Always Wanted to be a Tenenbaum, 2nd Movement)" by Mark Mothersbaugh
- "The Fairest Of The Seasons" by Nico
- "Everyone" by Van Morrison
- "End Credits (a.k.a. Sparkplug Minuet, 3rd Movement)" by Mark Mothersbaugh
2001 Soundtrack Release
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Tracklisting for The Royal Tenenbaums
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2002 Soundtrack Re-release
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Tracklisting for The Royal Tenenbaums
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Score - Oscar Promo CD - 2001
- "The Royal Tenenbaums" by Mark Mothersbaugh
- "The Lindebergh" by Mark Mothersbaugh
- "Margot Returns Home" by Mark Mothersbaugh
- ""I'm Dying"" by Mark Mothersbaugh
- "Something Brewing" by Mark Mothersbaugh
- "Look At That Ol' Grizzly Bear" by Mark Mothersbaugh
- "Mothersbaugh's Canon" by Mark Mothersbaugh
- "Raleigh And Margot" by Mark Mothersbaugh
- "You're True Blue, Ethyl" by Mark Mothersbaugh
- "Heavy Duty" by Mark Mothersbaugh
- ""How Can I Help"" by Mark Mothersbaugh
- "To Be A Tenenbaum" by Mark Mothersbaugh
- ""It's A Divorce"" by Mark Mothersbaugh
- "Chas Chases El" by Mark Mothersbaugh
- "I Need Help" by Mark Mothersbaugh
- "Rooftop Talk" by Mark Mothersbaugh
- "Lindeburgh" by Mark Mothersbaugh
- "End Credits" by Mark Mothersbaugh
Miscellanea
- The story and the movie in general is greatly inspired by more than several popular culture icons. For example, Nico was of major influence on the character of Margot Tenenbaum, perhaps as much as Franny Glass and Françoise Sagan, whose blonde hair and stylish dark mascara reflects on the character. Nico's son from Alain Delon, Ari, has the same name with Chas's older son. Nico also has two songs in the soundtrack: "The Fairest of the Seasons" and "These Days."
- Etheline Tenenbaum, played by Anjelica Huston, was modeled after Wes Anderson's own mother. Anderson's mother similarly adopted archeology after divorcing her husband. The glasses Etheline wears are actually Mrs. Anderson's. At one point during filming, Anjelica Huston asked Wes Anderson if she was, in fact, supposed to be playing his mother.
- The name Buckley for the dog came from singer/songwriter Jeff Buckley. He's a beagle, which is another tribute to Snoopy from Peanuts.
- The narration and the way the film follows each family member is similar to Fox's acclaimed television sitcom Arrested Development. Jason Bateman, one the show's stars, described the show as "The Royal Tenenbaums shot like COPS". Arrested Developments creator and head writer Mitchell Hurwitz said that when he saw The Royal Tenenbaums he already had the idea for AD in mind and thought "Well, I guess I won't be doing that" but subsequently changed his mind.
Taglines
- Family Isn't A Word... It's A Sentence.
- You Are Invited To A Remarkable Family Gathering.
External links
