Visually this film is superb, and it thankfully lasts for just over an hour and a half. I know it is about 20thC history, and the approach to this ' story ' of a catastrophic and barbaric century is told with such deadpan humour that I tried to laugh, even smile, but failed. In my opinion the film has no centre, but is all peripheral and although it seemingly has camp moments I failed to see the point why. The setting is fictitious and the hotel itself is set on top of a mountain and the story of its heritage is told in flashback, with a lot of escapes and imprisonments and cardboard bad men and heroes. Apparently dedicated to Stefan Zweig's extraordinary books I wondered why, but then I perhaps have read most of them from a different perspective. I loved one scene with an escape by cable car to a monastery, and Ralph Fiennes acted well as Gustave the eventual owner of the hotel, and so did Tony Revolori as the lobby boy of the hotel who will succeed him. Sadly for me I fail to see the purpose of this film's making.