By Coral Gables Gazette staff
Wes Anderson’s cinematic worlds tend to resemble dioramas that spring to life—each shot meticulously composed, every line deliberate, the absurd rendered beautiful. His newest film, The Phoenician Scheme (2025), pushes that aesthetic to new heights. Coral Gables audiences will have a chance to experience it on the big screen when the University of Miami’s Cinematic Arts Commission presents a free screening this Saturday, Oct. 25 at 8 p.m. at the University of Miami’s Cosford Cinema. Admission is open to all and no tickets are required.
A story steeped in artifice and inheritance
In The Phoenician Scheme, wealthy industrialist Anatole “Zsa-Zsa” Korda (Benicio del Toro) names his only daughter, Sister Liesl (Mia Threapleton), a nun, as the sole heir to his global empire. What begins as a tale of unlikely succession soon spirals into an international tangle of tycoons, terrorists, and assassins. The film is equal parts inheritance satire, geopolitical farce, and family tragedy—played out in Anderson’s unmistakable palette of pale blues, tangerines, and ochres.
The dialogue crackles with the off-center timing that has defined Anderson’s voice since The Royal Tenenbaums, but this time the stakes are darker. Beneath the deadpan delivery and pastel symmetry, The Phoenician Scheme explores the moral vacuum that power creates. It is a story about money, meaning, and what happens when the two collide.
Anderson’s evolution as an auteur
Now thirteen films into his career, Anderson has shifted from whimsical eccentricity toward a more philosophical tone. After the nostalgic dreamscapes of Asteroid City and The French Dispatch, he turns his lens to the global elite—a rarefied world where the absurdity is no longer provincial but planetary.
Critics have called The Phoenician Scheme both a return to form and a departure from comfort. Roger Ebert.com described it as “Anderson’s conversation with himself about what it means to be both successful and decent.” At this stage of his career, that self-interrogation feels as important as the film’s visual precision.
The community value of a campus cinema
The Cosford Cinema, long a cornerstone of film culture in Coral Gables, continues its mission of connecting students, faculty, and local residents through shared screenings that go beyond entertainment. By making The Phoenician Scheme free to the public, the Cinematic Arts Commission underscores the idea that great cinema belongs to everyone—not just paying audiences or subscribers.
UM’s programming often bridges mainstream artistry with academic discourse, offering Miami audiences a chance to see major festival releases before they fade into digital streaming queues. This screening reinforces the city’s role as a cultural hub for serious film appreciation, a point often echoed by the Commission’s leadership and Cosford’s curatorial team.
What to expect
Clocking in at just over 100 minutes, The Phoenician Scheme is brisk by Anderson standards. The narrative unfolds across stylized Mediterranean landscapes and a fictionalized “Phoenicia,” an invented crossroads where ancient mythology meets post-modern politics. The film balances its espionage plot with flashes of tenderness—small gestures between father and daughter that give the absurdity emotional weight.
Those familiar with Anderson’s recurring ensemble will recognize familiar faces: Tilda Swinton as an icy art dealer, Edward Norton as a bumbling intelligence chief, and Jason Schwartzman in a scene-stealing role as an assassin who quotes scripture. The effect is theatrical but never static; Anderson uses geometry and motion like a stage director using light.
