Influence Between Zweig and Anderson

For this blog post, I will be comparing common elements in Twenty-four Hours in the Life of a Woman by Stefan Zweig and The Grand Budapest Hotel by Wes Anderson. Some common elements of both works include: story form and structure, setting, plot ideas and themes.

STORY FORM AND STRUCTURE

Both the story and the film have a similar story form and structure where both are narrated as a story within a story.

SETTING

The setting of both works take place in a hotel in Europe. In Twenty-four Hours in the Life of a Woman, the setting is a small hotel on the French Riveria, similarly in the Grand Budapest Hotel, the setting is a high-class hotel.

PLOT IDEAS

Twenty-four Hours in the Life of a Woman is a short story about a middle aged woman who talked to a stranger for three hours before fleeing with him.

The Grand Budapest Hotel’s plot revolves around the protagonist M Gustave, a wealthy concierge working at a hotel and Zero Moustafa, who works for Gustave as a Lobby boy. One day Gustave was informed about Madame D.’s death and reveals that she left him a valuable Renaissance painting which angered her family.

Both the story and the film share similar plot ideas where it was considered a taboo for women in the time period to interact with a stranger. In the short story, the woman interacts with a stranger and fled with him, and in the film, a similar idea was shown when Madame D. left her valuables to a stranger rather than her family.

THEME

One of the common theme found in both works is obsession. In Twenty-four Hours in the Life of a Woman, the idea of obsession is shown by two characters; the young man who is obsessed with gambling and the middle aged widow who finds an obsession with the man. Similarly, in The Grand Budapest Hotel, Dmitri is obsessed with his mother’s painting and belongings.

CONCLUSION

Personally, I believe that the film The Grand Budapest Hotel borrowed its ideas from the story Twenty-four Hours in the Life of a Woman because Anderson was inspired by Zweig stories. When watching the film, I can see the presence of many of Zweig’s styles and common elements including similar story form and structure, setting, plot ideas and themes.