The Royal Tenenbaums
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Wes Anderson
Produced by	Wes Anderson Barry Mendel Scott Rudin Owen Wilson
Written by	Wes Anderson Owen Wilson
Starring	Danny Glover Gene Hackman Anjelica Huston Bill Murray Gwyneth Paltrow Ben Stiller Luke Wilson Owen Wilson
Narrated by	Alec Baldwin
Music by	Mark Mothersbaugh
Cinematography	Robert Yeoman
Edited by	Dylan Tichenor
Production company	Touchstone Pictures American Empirical Pictures
Distributed by	Buena Vista Pictures
Release dates	December 14, 2001 (2001-12-14) (United States: limited) January 4, 2002 (2002-01-04) (United States: wide)
Running time	109 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$21 million[1]
Box office	$71.4 million[1]

The Royal Tenenbaums is a 2001 American comedy-drama film directed by Wes Anderson and co-written with Owen Wilson. The film stars Danny Glover, Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Bill Murray, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson, and Owen Wilson.

It follows the lives of three gifted siblings who experience great success in youth, and even greater disappointment and failure after their eccentric father leaves them in their adolescent years. An ironic and absurdist sense of humor pervades the film.

The Royal Tenenbaums received positive reviews from critics. Hackman won a Golden Globe for his performance, and the screenplay was nominated for an Academy Award. In a 2016 poll of international critics conducted by BBC, The Royal Tenenbaums was voted one of the 100 greatest motion pictures since 2000.^[2]

Plot[edit]

Royal Tenenbaum explains to his three children, Chas, Margot, and Richie, that he and his wife, Etheline, are separating. Each of the Tenenbaum children achieved great success at a very young age. Chas is a math and business genius, from whom Royal steals money. Margot, who was adopted by the Tenenbaums, was awarded a grant for a play that she wrote in the ninth grade. Richie is a tennis prodigy and artist. He expresses his love for adopted sister Margot through many paintings. Royal takes him on regular outings, to which neither of the other children are invited. Eli Cash is the Tenenbaums' neighbor, and Richie's best friend.

Twenty-two years later, Royal is kicked out of the hotel where he has been living. All of the Tenenbaum children are in a post-success slump. Richie is traveling the world in a cruise ship following a breakdown. He writes a letter to Eli revealing his love for Margot. Chas has become extremely overprotective of his sons, Ari and Uzi, following his wife Rachael's death in a plane crash. Margot is married to neurologist Raleigh St. Clair, from whom she hides her smoking and her checkered past. Raleigh is conducting research on a subject named Dudley Heinsbergen. Etheline's longtime accountant, Henry Sherman, proposes to her.

Learning of Henry's proposal, Royal claims that he has stomach cancer in order to win back the affections of Etheline and his children. He moves into the family home and sets up medical equipment in Richie's room. Etheline calls each of her children home. Royal learns of Chas' overprotective nature and takes his grandsons on an adventure involving shoplifting and dog fighting. Upon their return, Chas berates him for endangering his boys. Royal accuses Chas of having a nervous breakdown.

Eli, with whom Margot has been having an affair, tells her that Richie loves her. Royal discovers the affair and objects to Margot's treatment of Raleigh, who confides to Richie his suspicions of Margot. He and Richie hire a private investigator to spy on her.

Henry investigates Royal's cancer claim and discovers the hospital had closed years before, his doctor does not exist, and that his cancer medication is only candy. He confronts Pagoda, the family servant, and gathers the whole family to tell them what he's discovered. Afterward Royal and Pagoda move out of the house.

Richie and Raleigh get the private eye's report on Margot, which reveals her history of smoking and sexual promiscuity, including a previous marriage to a Jamaican recording artist. Raleigh is only concerned by her smoking, but Richie takes the news much harder. He goes into the bathroom, shaves off his hair and beard, and calmly slashes his wrists. Dudley finds him in a pool of blood, and Raleigh rushes him to the hospital. As the Tenenbaums sit in the waiting room, Raleigh confronts Margot and then leaves. Richie escapes the hospital and meets with Margot. They share their secret love and they kiss.

Royal decides that he wants Etheline to be happy. He arranges for a divorce. Before Henry and Etheline's wedding, Eli, high on mescaline, crashes his car into the side of the house. Royal rescues Ari and Uzi, but the boys' dog, Buckley, is killed. Enraged, Chas chases Eli through the house and wrestles him to the ground. Eli and Chas agree that they both need psychiatric help. Chas thanks Royal for saving his sons and for buying them a Dalmatian from the responding firemen as a replacement for Buckley. Forty-eight hours later, Etheline and Henry are married in a judge's chambers.

Some time later, Margot releases a new play inspired by her family, Raleigh publishes a book about Dudley's condition, Eli checks himself into a drug rehabilitation facility in North Dakota, and Richie begins teaching a junior tennis program. Chas becomes less overbearing and overprotective of his children. Royal seems to have improved his relationship with all of his children, and seems to be on better terms with Etheline. He has a heart attack and dies at the age of 68. Chas accompanies him in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, and is the only witness to his death. The family attends his funeral together. Royal's epitaph reads that he "Died tragically rescuing his family from the wreckage of a destroyed sinking battleship."

Cast[edit]

• Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman) – An unrepentant, selfish lawyer and a failure as a father. He intentionally shot his son Chas with a BB gun, and consistently and willingly feels he must point out that Margot is his "adopted daughter." He often took only Richie to dogfights while excluding Chas and Margot. Anderson had Hackman in mind for Royal but the actor was reluctant to take the part, saying he prefers to disappear into a role, instead of having a role fitted for him. Gene Wilder was offered the role as well, but turned it down because of his retirement.
• Etheline Tenenbaum (Anjelica Huston) – A noted archaeologist and author, and the mother of the Tenenbaum children, who "makes their education her top priority." Later on, Ethel finds love with Henry Sherman, her accountant, the complete opposite of her estranged husband Royal.
• Chas Tenenbaum (Ben Stiller) – A prodigy in international finance, Chas sued his father twice and had him disbarred because of the bonds his father stole from his safe deposit box when he was fourteen. His wife, Rachael Evans Tenenbaum, died in a plane crash and he has since become overprotective with the safety of his sons, Ari and Uzi (Grant Rosenmeyer and Jonah Meyerson). They have a beagle named Buckley.
  • Aram Aslanian-Persico as young Chas
• Margot Helen Tenenbaum (Gwyneth Paltrow) – A playwright and adopted daughter, Margot once ran away from home for two weeks to meet her birth family and came back with half of one of her fingers missing. She is shown sulking in her bathtub, watching television, ignoring her husband. She smokes, unbeknownst to anyone else in her family as she is infamously secretive.
  • Irene Gorovaia as young Margot
• Richie Tenenbaum (Luke Wilson) – A tennis expert, Richie is secretly in love with Margot. He ends his successful tennis career with a nervous breakdown on court in front of thousands of fans (the film implies the cause was the marriage of Margot and Raleigh the day before). As the film opens, he has been living on an ocean liner for several months. He drinks Bloody Marys with pepper throughout the movie, so much so that he carries a capped pepper shaker in his jacket pocket. The character is loosely based on former champion Björn Borg, who shocked the tennis world by retiring at age 26, and wore the same style headband and trademark Fila polo.
  • Amedeo Turturro as young Richie
• Eli Cash (Owen Wilson) – A "friend of the family" since the children were very young, considered Richie's best friend, Eli has "always wanted to be a Tenenbaum." He gained success as an author of Western novels; his latest work presupposes the outcome if George Armstrong Custer had not died at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Eli has been having an affair with Margot and has a drug problem. Anderson has stated that Eli is based on the authors Cormac McCarthy and Jay McInerney.
  • James Fitzgerald as young Eli
• Henry Sherman (Danny Glover) – Ethel's accountant and romantic interest. He confronts Royal on his supposed stomach cancer with the family present, revealing that his wife had stomach cancer, and Royal does not show any of the symptoms.
• Raleigh St. Clair (Bill Murray) – Husband of Margot and a famous neurologist. Anderson has mentioned that St. Clair was based on Oliver Sacks. He is constantly accompanied by his adolescent test subject Dudley Heinsbergen (Stephen Lea Sheppard).
• Pagoda (Kumar Pallana) – Friend and servant to the family. He also acts as an informant for Royal to update him on his family. They met after Pagoda, an assassin in Kolkata, stabbed Royal. However, he subsequently earned his trust by carrying Royal on his back to the hospital.
• Dusty (Seymour Cassel) – Elevator operator at the Lindbergh Palace Hotel. A trusted friend of Royal, he helps deceive the Tenenbaum family about Royal's illness by pretending to be Dr. McClure. Later, he helps Royal get a job at the hotel.

Production[edit]

According to Anderson's DVD commentary, E. L. Konigsburg's book From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, in which the characters Claudia and Jamie run away to live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, inspired the story of Margot and Richie hiding out in a museum.^[3]

The house used in the film is located near the famous Sugar Hill in the Hamilton Heights section of Harlem in Manhattan, New York City. The address is 339 Convent Avenue.^[4]

The paintings in Eli's apartment are by Mexican artist Miguel Calderón.^[5]

The name Tenenbaum was taken from that of family acquaintances of Wes Anderson.^[6]

Typography[edit]

In common with his other films, Anderson makes extensive and careful use of typography, in particular Futura and its variation Futura Bold.^[7] It is suggested that the typography is used to identify the characters, with Futura used almost entirely in scenes featuring members of the Tenenbaum family, but other typefaces such as Helvetica used with people outside the family, e.g. on Raleigh St. Clair's books.^[7] Anderson uses the same typeface in Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, and Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Soundtrack[edit]

The score was composed by Mark Mothersbaugh. The soundtrack also features rock songs from the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.

There have been two soundtrack album releases for the film. The first, released in 2001, was well received by most critics, though some songs were omitted; notably, Paul Simon's "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard", Van Morrison's "Everyone", John Lennon's "Look at Me", Nick Drake's "Fly", The Mutato Muzika Orchestra version of The Beatles' "Hey Jude" and "She Smiled Sweetly" and "Ruby Tuesday" by The Rolling Stones. Erik Satie's "Gymnopédie" was also used in the film, but never appeared on either soundtrack.

In 2002, the soundtrack was re-released with three songs not found on the 2001 release, but the two songs by The Rolling Stones ("She Smiled Sweetly" and "Ruby Tuesday") were not included, because, while the band allow their music to be used in films, they rarely allow the songs to appear on soundtracks. The Van Morrison track, which served as the closing credits song, was also still missing. Additionally, the "Lindbergh Palace Hotel Suite," credited as original music by Mothersbaugh on the 2001 release, was retitled on the 2002 soundtrack release as "Sonata for Cello and Piano in F Minor," performed by The Mutato Muzika Orchestra.

Reception[edit]

The film was met with mostly positive reviews, viewed by many as a worthy follow-up to Anderson's previous film, Rushmore. The film holds an 80% "Fresh" rating at the website Rotten Tomatoes and a 75/100 weighted average score at Metacritic.^[8] Todd McCarthy of Variety called the film "As richly conceived as the novel it pretends to be" and Richard Schickel, in Time, writing, "As with Anderson's Rushmore, there's a certain annoying preciousness to this film—it's not so consistently wise or amusing as he thinks it is—but it has its moments." Roger Ebert praised the film's writing, noting his belief that the film was "proof that Anderson and his writing partner, the actor Owen Wilson, have a gift of cockeyed genius." Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle was enthusiastic in praising the film as "like no other, an epic, depressive comedy, with lots of ironic laughs and a humane and rather sad feeling at its core."

Some critics disagreed about the success of the film and its style, Glenn Lovell of the San Jose Mercury News writing, "If I smiled at all during this colossal misfire, it was at Hackman, who knows how to do cheerfully thoughtless better than anyone around. The rest of the cast looks lost and miserable." Peter Rainer was lukewarm about the film, writing, "Anderson is something of a prodigy himself, and he's riddled with talent, but he hasn't figured out how to be askew and heartfelt at the same time." Jay Carr of the Boston Globe wrote "Mostly you sit around waiting for it to be funnier, or at least funny more often."

In 2008, a poll taken by Empire ranked it as the 159th greatest film ever made.^[9]

In popular culture[edit]

The narration and the way the film follows each family member was reprised in Fox's critically acclaimed television sitcom Arrested Development. Jason Bateman, one of the show's stars, described the show as "The Royal Tenenbaums shot like COPS."^[10] Arrested Development creator and head writer Mitchell Hurwitz said that when he saw The Royal Tenenbaums, he already had the idea for Arrested Development in mind and thought, "Well, I guess I won't be doing that," but subsequently changed his mind.^[11]

Alec Baldwin, the narrator, has effusively praised the film, including it in his Top 10 Criterion Collection and calling it "arguably one of the most original movies, in tone and style, since Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H"^[12] and cites Hackman's performance as the key inspiration for his Emmy and Golden Globe-winning work playing NBC executive Jack Donaghy on 30 Rock - "All actors have debts to other actors. Mine is to the great Gene Hackman. Without Royal Tenenbaum, there’d be no map to Jack D."^[13]

The Tenenbaums' style has been cited as an influence in fashion design, and Margot Tenenbaum has been described as the "muse of the season" for Spring/Summer 2015 collections.^[14][15]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• The Royal Tenenbaums at the Internet Movie Database
• The Royal Tenenbaums at AllMovie
• The Royal Tenenbaums at Box Office Mojo
• The Royal Tenenbaums at Rotten Tomatoes
• Criterion Collection essay by Kent Jones
• The Rushmore Academy: The World of Wes Anderson (fan site)