The Darjeeling Limited · reception & legacy

2007 · Wes Anderson

How The Darjeeling Limited has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

Greeted in 2007 as 'minor Wes Anderson' — critics fatigued by the twee after The Life Aquatic gave it a shrug — it's since become the Anderson film fans most love to call underrated, with a steady reappraisal as one of his most emotionally direct works.

What's debated

The perennial fight: is its picture-postcard India orientalist set-dressing for white self-discovery, or a knowing critique of exactly that kind of spiritual tourism?

Its footprint

The bespoke Louis Vuitton luggage set — Marc Jacobs, with animal drawings by Wes's brother Eric Chase Anderson — became an icon in its own right, and the slow-motion run for the train set to The Kinks' 'This Time Tomorrow' is one of the most referenced shots in Anderson's whole catalogue.

Where it stands

A mid-ranker on most Wes Anderson tier lists but a fierce dark-horse favourite — the one fans defend hardest, and a Letterboxd staple for the 'actually his best' hot take.

★ Did you know? Anderson shot on a real moving train — a custom-converted Indian Railways train rolling through Rajasthan — rather than a soundstage, and the short prologue 'Hotel Chevalier' with Natalie Portman was released free on iTunes a month before the film opened.

Named by the director

Influences Wes Anderson has publicly named — the director's own word, distinct from the inferred lines of influence.

The River (1951) — Anderson repeatedly named Jean Renoir's India-set film as the touchstone that drew him to shoot in India.
Satyajit Ray — Anderson cited Ray as a guiding influence, scored the film with music from Ray's own movies, and dedicated the film to his memory.