Out of the four Wes Anderson adaptations of Roald Dahl short stories released on Netflix last week, I have watched three so far and The Swan is the clear standout to me. While I didn't necessarily dislike Poison, I thought the source material just wasn't that interesting, with the message laid on a bit too thick. I liked The Rat Catcher slightly better, but that was in large part due to the outstanding performance by Ralph Fiennes. However, the overall feeling I had while watching these short films was one of indifference. Nothing about them really surprised me, they were kind of exactly what I expected Wes Anderson adaptations of a short stories to look like. I should add that I'm a huge admirer of Wes Anderson and his unique brand of filmmaking. I have seen all his films at least once and he hasn't made a 'bad one' yet in my opinion. But after both Asteroid City earlier this year and now these two shorts left me rather underwhelmed, I was starting to wonder if I was growing maybe just a bit tired of the patented Anderson style.
After watching The Swan, those doubts can be put to bed: Wes Anderson, while continuing to be a master at the pure, visual craft of filmmaking (to be fair, this was never in doubt to me), also still has the ability to surprise and elate me with his films. Because while all the idiosyncratic elements and stylistic flourishes of an Anderson film are still there in The Swan, it also achieves something which I can't really recall another one of his films do (to this extent anyway): it moved me.
The Swan, told as the story of (and, in a bit of inspired storytelling, by) Peter Watson, grows surprisingly disturbing before ending on a very touching note. The symbolism of an innocent and vulnerable boy as a white swan is perfect and I know we mainly have the source material by Roald Dahl to thank for that, but Anderson manages to really enhance this metaphor by presenting it visually in such stunning fashion. The image of the young boy standing on that branch, wearing the bloodied wings of the dead swan, is of such haunting beauty. And that final image, with adult Peter laying on the ground and young Peter looking over him, as seen from the perspective of the mother, just felt so poignant. There are many more wonderfully creative visual touches, like for example how we don't see the actual train during the railroad sequence, just consequent pictures of how it grows bigger and bigger from Peter's perspective as it approaches. But the big difference with the other shorts for me was that in this one, these directorial flourishes worked in service of a darker and more powerful story. And so what we get in The Swan is an example of style and content enhancing each other to create a profound viewing experience.
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