The Cost of Whimsy in Mood Indigo and The Grand Budapest Hotel

Mica Hilson’s chapter employs a new formalist framework to compare the elements of “twee” and “whimsy” in Gondry’s Mood Indigo and contemporary auteur Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014). This chapter argues that Gondry’s use of whimsical excess to self-reflexively address themes of over-consumption stands in opposition to Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel. This chapter furthermore considers that the fetishization of luxury items in Anderson’s film contrasts with the do-it-yourself, craft aesthetic of Gondry’s work. This comparative chapter illuminates both the aesthetic tendencies that Gondry shares with some of his more eccentric contemporaries and the qualities that set Gondry’s work apart. This chapter’s analysis asks the reader to consider whimsical aesthetics in their socio-economic context, rather than assuming that style negates substance.