Credit Twentieth Century Fox

Gustave's Deposition

PROP

Official Document

FUNCTION

Enrichment, Thematic

DESIGNER

Annie Atkins, Liliana Lambriev

MOVIE

The Grand Budapest Hotel

YEAR

2014

DIRECTOR

Wes Anderson

PRODUCTION DESIGNER

Adam Stockhausen

GRAPHIC ARTISTS

Annie Atkins, Liliana Lambriev

The deposition made after Gustav's arrest is ironically complete deposition in all its parts, stamped and signed by the authorities. As displayed in full screen, it enriches the storywodl, giving the viewer the chance to read it in its entirety to provide more information. This irony is not incidental: it reinforces the film’s thematic function precisely because the film’s overall narration is structured around irony. The deposition’s hyper-correct, institutional language performs seriousness, but within an already ironic universe it reads as a stylized mask—an “official” form that highlights the distance between bureaucratic certainty and the lived absurdity of the events.