Benedict Cumberbatch, Benicio del Toro, Benjamin Lake, Bill Murray, Bryan Cranston, Cannes Film Festival, comedy, Edward Hyland, F. Murray Abraham, film festivals, Gunes Taner, Hector Bateman-Harden, Hope Davis, Jeffrey Wright, Jonathan Wirtz, Kit Rakusen, Mathieu Amalric, Mia Threapleton, Milo James, Mohamad Momo Ramadan, Momo Ramadan, movies, Ogden Dawson, reviews, Richard Ayoade, Riz Ahmed, Rupert Friend, Scarlett Johansson, The Phoenician Scheme, Tom Hanks, Willem Dafoe
May 29, 2025
by Carla Hay
Directed by Wes Anderson
Culture Representation: Taking place from 1950 to 1951, in Europe and in Asia, the comedy film “The Phoenician Scheme” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a Latin people and black people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: Wealthy and corrupt business mogul Anatole “Zsa-zsa” Korda tries to avoid getting assassinated while instigating and covering up shady deals.
Culture Audience: “The Phoenician” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the filmmakwer Wes Anderson, the movie’s headliners, and madcap dark comedies about eccentric people.
“The Phoenician Scheme” has more star power than story power. It’s watchable if you can tolerate filmmaker Wes Anderson’s oddball style. The cast’s performances save a plot that becomes a checklist of business betrayals and schemes.
Written and directed by Anderson, “The Phoenician Scheme” (which had its world premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival) offers more of the same types of quirky retro films that Anderson has been churning out on a regular basis. Characters talk in a clipped and rushed tone, as if they’re always in a hurry to get somewhere. There’s meticulous production design, where every location looks unnaturally photogenic, like something of out of a museum.
Anderson’s movies also tend to have cinematography that is very pastel or very rustic, occasionally peppered with black-and-white imagery. The stories, more often than not, center on a morally dubious or conflicted protagonist who’s dealing with corruption in one form or another. Various other characters scurry around or pop in and out of the story to either participate in the corruption or try to thwart it.
“The Phoenician Scheme” fits all of the above descriptions. It’s not a movie where Anderson pushes any new creative boundaries. It’s a movie where Anderson sits firmly in his comfort zone, for better or worse. In other words, you don’t like any of Anderson’s films, “The Phoenician Scheme” will not win you over into become a fan of Anderson.
The protagonist of “The Phoenician Scheme” is Anatole “Zsa-Zsa” Korda (played by Benecio del Toro), known as Korda, who is a wealthy and corrupt business mogul of vague European origins. He has business in a variety of areas, such as arms dealing, property development and transportation. Korda has a reputation for betraying colleagues through fraud and theft. Needless to say, he’s made a lot of enemies.
The first scene in the movie shows Korda narrowly escaping an assassination attempt when the side of private plane is blown up during the flight, instantly killing one of Korda’s employees. Korda tells the airplane pilot that he’s fired before killing the pilot by ejecting the pilot from the plane before it crashes. For a while, Korda goes missing, but he is found alive. Korda’s incredible survival becomes big news in the media.
Korda has more than one close brush with death during the course of the movie. Every time he comes closes to dying, he briefly visits an afterlife realm, where God (played by Bill Murray) and other celestial beings try to judge Korda. Back on Earth, another group of people can be seen judging Korda in a different way: Members of business syndicate, led by a vengeful rival named Excaliber (played by Rupert Friend), vote unanimously to stop Korda, by agreeing to a price-fixing plan that will hinder Korda from buying certain materials for his businesses.
Korda’s grand scheme is to disrupt the economy of Phoenicia. Because he knows he’s an easy target for his enemies, he tries to revamp his business affairs by making his eldest child Liesl (played by Mia Threapleton) the heir to his estate, with Korda aiming to teach Liesl his shady business practices so she can continue his legacy. The only problem is that Liesl is in the final stages of becoming a nun named Sister Liesl. At first, she says no to Korda’s requests, but Korda convinces her to accompany him for his various antics. Liesl think she can redeem her father.
Korda has been married and divorced three times. He has 11 children. His other 10 children are all sons under the age of 18: Jasper (played by Edward Hyland), David (played by Kit Rakusen), David #2 (played by Jonathan Wirtz), Phillip (played by Milo James), Michael (played by Ogden Dawson), Jamie (played by Hector Bateman-Harden), Harry (played by Benjamin Lake), Steven (played by Gunes Taner), Samuel (played by Gabriel Ryan), Thomas (played by Momo Ramadan, also known as Mohamad Momo Ramadan). It’s really just a gimmick to show 10 boys in a room where Korda really can’t keep track of them all.
Korda also persuades a Norwegian entomologist Bjørn (played by Michael Cera), who was teaching Korda about entomology, to become his personal assistant. Bjørn is attracted to Liesl, even though she is about to become a nun. Much of the interactions between Bjørn and Liesl consist of Liesl trying to avoid Bjørn’s obvious infatuation with her.
“The Phoenician Scheme” gets more convoluted in its shenanigans than what is necessary, considering that it’s a very simple plot. The story shows Korda going from place to place in Europe and in Asia, in an attempt to cover up his embezzlements and to do damage control when certain business associates find out that Korda betrayed them. These associates include subway developers Leland (played by Tom Hanks) and Reagan (played by Bryan Cranston); nightclub owner Marseille Bob (played by Mathieu Amalric); and investor Marty (played by Jeffrey Wright), who all deal with Korda’s double-crossing in various ways.
Korda embezzlement has resulted in him having a money deficit that he calls the Gap. He spends much of his time scrambling to find money to fill the Gap before certain people find out that the money is missing. Along the way, he also has encounters with a royal named Prince Farouk of Phoenicia (played by Riz Ahmed) and a radical freedom fighter named Sergio, (played by Richard Ayoade), all while dodging gun shootouts and other deadly attacks.
Korda’s biggest enemy is his half-brother Nubar (played by Benedict Cumberbatch), who is called Uncle Nubar in the movie. Nubar’s grudge is explained in the story. Also appearing in supporting roles are Scarlett Johansson as Cousin Hilda, who becomes Korda’s fiancée; Hope Davis as Liesl’s Mother Superior; Willem Dafoe as a knave; and F. Murray Abraham as a prophet.
The dialogue is filled with quips, but the personalities of the characters are sometimes two-dimensional. Because so many famous people are crammed into Anderson’s films, it seems as if quality is sacrified for quantity, when it comes to character development. Anderson’s films often become less about the plot and more about which characters his celebrity cast members are going to portray and how offbeat these characters are going to be.
There’s a world-weary drollness that del Toro gives to his character that brings some humanity to an otherwise detestable character. Threapleton is a standout and is able to hold her own in scenes with cast members who are better-known that she is. Cera (who is American in real life) is somewhat miscast because he’s never that convincing as a Norwegian. Cumberbatch hams it up as the story’s biggest villain and having the physical-appearance flamboyance (bushy beard and debnair wardobe) to match. The other cast members also consistently stick to the Anderson film tone of hyper-realism.
“The Phoenician Scheme” can be used as an example of the type of stylish screwball comedy that fits Anderson’s filmmaking formula. His movies aren’t for everyone, but viewers who are inclined to like his films will probably find something to enjoy about “The Phoenician Scheme.” However, the movie gets repetitive, and there’s not much of a plot. “The Phoenician Scheme” should also be a wakeup call that Anderson needs to focus more on presenting better stories instead of over-relying on casting many famous people to populate his movies.
Focus Features will release “The Phoenician Scheme” in select U.S. cinemas on May 30, 2025, with a wider release to U.S. cinemas on June 6, 2025.