Data Analysis: The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
Hanwen Hu
Scene from The Grand Budapest Hotel 11:30 – 12:30
Transcription notes:
Italic words in brackets: actions of characters or introduction/shift of the scene
Italic words before actions: sounds uttered while doing actions Otherwise, follow the transcription convention of Bucholtz article.
Background: Madame D, a guest of the hotel who appeared to fear something, just left in a car. Gustav, Grand Budapest Hotel’s concierge, says goodbye to her and promises her that he will light a candle for her in the cathedral.
Transcript:
(Gustav standing in the front, Zero standing in the back)
G: It’s quite a thing winning the royalty of woman like that for nineteen consecutive seasons.
Z: Uh – yes sir.
G: She’s very fond of me, you know.
Z: Yes sir.
G: I’ve never seen her like that before.
Z: No sir.
G: She was shaking like a shitting dog.
Z: (Close-up to Zero) (.) Truly.
(Gustav turns and holds a coin, simultaneously Zero walks to Gustav)
G: Run to the Cathedral of Bruckerplatz (Zero reaching out his hand to take the coin) buy one of the plain half white candles and take back four kubecks in change (Zero reaching out his hand) light it in the sacristy sing a brief rosary (Zero reaching out his hand) and then go to Mendl’s and get me a courtesan an chokolat, if there’s any money left give it to the crippled shoe-shine (signaling to the right) boy.
(.) (scene of shoe-shine boy doing his work)
Z: Right away, sir.
(Zero runs away)
G: Hold it.
(Zero runs back)
G: Who are you.
Z: I’m Zero, sir, the new lobby boy.
G: Zero, you say.
Z: Yes, sir.
G: I’ve never heard of you laid eyes on you who hired you.
Z: Mr. Mosher, sir.
G: (looking up to the building) Mr. Mosher?
Bakhtin said that the relationship between authorial intention and language is “always found in a state of oscillation that is more or less alive1”. Gustav and Zero both step into and out of their societal roles in the conversation, which signals that oscillation.
Gustav’s initial reflective commentaries of his job detach himself from his societal role. He used phrases like “shaking like a shitting dog”, which isn’t the appropriate register for a hotel concierge. His statements are relatively logically unrelated, resembling sudden bursts of thoughts without specific dialogic directions. Instead, it conveys personal thoughts formed within his social context. Therefore, Gustav was speaking as a person with an indeterminate social identity here, which the audience, not playing a role in the story, can resonate.
Gustav changes to the professional mode of speaking when he gives orders to Zero. He speaks faster, without any interruptions between different parts of his orders, which shows his professional competence. His order contains only succinct phrases that can be directly translated into actions, which expect the execution of the listener, Zero. The change in pace and contents signals that Gustav speaks with a clear direction and purpose, which is defined by his role as a hotel concierge. These few lines establish Gustav as a capable and serious professional.
Zero mostly plays the role of an obedient employee in the conversation. Most of his responses contains “sir”, which registers respect for someone with a higher social status. He never contradicts Gustav, never initiates a conversation, and only provides information that is asked for. He speaks with respect and caution, which signals that he is aware of and accepts his relatively low social status of a lobby boy.
However, Zero steps out of his social role when he hears that Gustav comments Madame D as “shaking like a shitting dog”. Unlike his usual immediate affirmative response, Zero paused a little bit and
1 Mikhail, Bakhtin. Discourse in the Novel, pp. 302.
said “truly”, without adding the honorific pronoun “sir”. This shows that Zero forgets about modifying his speech to fit his social status as a lobby boy and utters his personal thought, probably out of surprise to what Gustav said. This line moves Zero out of his social role by presenting his thought that is unfiltered by his self-consciousness as a lobby boy.
Both Gustav and Zero try hard to speak in the “correct” voice of their profession in part of the conversation, even to the extent of comical absurdity. But both also move from that voice or the social roles underlying that voice, speaking as if looking at it from a distance. This multivocality in this conversation approaches what I consider as the authorial intention – capturing human nature – through a constant oscillation between obedience and rebellion towards social roles.
Film link (this movie needs to be purchased on YouTube):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC4n3_EK_kA