The Darjeeling Limited: Wes Anderson Lets Go of His Baggage

The estranged brothers Whitman have reunited for a journey on board the Darjeeling Limited, a colorful old locomotive traversing the Rajasthan region of India. Along the way, they will shop for souvenirs, take in the sights, sample the local delicacies, and wonder where, exactly, they’re destined to arrive. Francis (Owen Wilson), the eldest, has organized the trip despite a recent motorcycle mishap that left his head bandaged, but fully conscious that the Whitman boys have more than geographical distances to cross. Each Whitman brother has a multitude of hurt—and a signature look. Jack (Jason Schwartzman), the youngest, mourns a recent breakup and tends to go barefoot in expensive suits. With oversized sunglasses and pink boxer shorts, middle child Peter (Adrien Brody) broods over a baby expected in the coming month from a woman he isn’t sure he ought to have married. Francis wears his crown of gauze over injuries physical and otherwise. From the minute Wilson walks on-screen, Darjeeling is warped by the gravitas of his recent suicide attempt. Director Wes Anderson and Wilson are old friends and frequent collaborators, and it’s hard not to sense them working through more than one impasse here. Individually damaged and isolated in their styles, the Whitman boys share one thing: luggage designed by Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton. Darjeeling is a movie about people trapped in themselves and what it takes to get free—a movie, quite literally, about letting go of your baggage.