A French kiss on the chic.

_The French Dispatch_ is like waking up at 6am and realizing it's Saturday and you can go back to sleep: cozy, delightful and satisfying.

Here's the thing... If you look at the magazine cover displayed at the end of the film, you see the price of the issue is 200 Old Francs. Old Francs. Because in 1960, the French re-evaluated their currency by making 100 old francs worth 1 new franc, but the joke here is a magazine would never be priced in an obsolete currency! It would just say '200 francs' because old francs were never referred to as such until they were no longer valid.

The thought, the detail that went into this throwaway joke that only few viewers would notice is amazing, and yet _The French Dispatch_ is resplendent with these little winks, like surprises behind windows in an advent calendar, just waiting for you to discover them one after the other.

Included among these references are the Frenchisms. Maybe because I've been living in Paris so long but the French touches like the cast (Cécile de France and Lyna Khoudri!) or the inside jokes of the names (the town Ennui-sur-Blasé (Boredom-on-Blasé) or the café Le Sans Blague (The No Kidding)) give _The French Dispatch_ a whole new level of authenticity and local charm.

No, the movie isn't perfect. Perhaps its biggest shortcoming is that it's an anthology film, so not all of the sequences are as equally strong. Still, the idea of using a magazine as a framing device for the stories goes a long way towards selling the concept.

The film, however, isn't just carried by its precious attentions and its directorial touches. No, the cast is just remarkable. Tilda Swinton is extraordinary here, as are Ed Norton, Benicio Del Toro, Adrien Brody, Frances McDormand, Owen Wilson, Saoirse Ronan, Elisabeth Moss and, obviously, Bill Murray...to name but a few.

_The French Dispatch_ may not be to everyone's tastes, but I sat in the cinema before the big screen and caught myself giggling aloud, agape with wonder. When people talk about 'movie magic', they're talking about Wes Anderson, and _The French Dispatch_ sure cast its spell on me.