
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.