It was a boarding school in Rushmore, a gorgeous city home in The Royal Tenenbaums, and a grand oceanic vessel in The Life Aquatic; Wes Anderson has an addiction for condensed spaces. in The Darjeeling Limited, it’s a luxurious locomotive rolling through the sublime terrain of Darjeeling, India. Stowed away amongst the German tourists and the toppling luggage are the Whitman brothers (Jack, Francis, and Peter), a trio of Americans trying to find enlightenment, salvation, and relief.

The oldest brother, Francis (Owen Wilson), had an epiphany as he lay on the ground after a motorcycle accident, and was left wondering why his younger brothers weren’t with him. That led to the brotherly train trip and a surprise visit to their estranged mother. Don’t worry: there’s a laminated itinerary if you get confused. The youngest, Jack (Anderson staple Jason Schwartzman), comes aboard to shed the skin of his ex-girlfriend while Peter (Anderson newbie Adrien Brody), the middle brother, has begun feeling desperation over his impending fatherhood. Moreover, they are digging and scratching at every surface to hide the grief over their father’s passing; the event that caused their initial scattering.

Tourists at heart, the Whitman boys grab up every ritual, ceremony, and rare specimen of India they can get their hands on, including a venomous snake and a can of mace. The constant interruptions, the flings with Indian girls, the compulsive stealing; the brothers grieve, but not properly. With each absurd grasp at the unknown, they move further away from the act of accepting their father’s death and closer to maddening stasis. It is even apparent in the opening scene: an older man (the required Bill Murray) running for a train is outrun by a long-limbed Peter. The old man’s inability to drop his cumbersome luggage becomes a key symbol of the film; a brilliant image that will come back at the film’s culmination.

After attempts at spiritual resolution involving feather-burying, bell-ringing, and worshipping in temples fail, the moment of truth finally comes when the brothers attempt to save three kids from drowning; only two survive. In an open Renoir reference, the Whitmans hang around an Indian village and are at the child’s funeral, dumbstruck by the heroic sadness of the boy’s father (Irfan Khan). Though they still must visit their mother (Anjelica Huston), it is in the village that they finally come to terms with their father’s death and their repressed melancholy.

The village finds hope in these lost Americans, even if Francis’s initial reaction to the drowning kids is “Look at these assholes!” The film is beautifully shot by Anderson’s ace cinematographer Robert D Yeoman, the filmmaker’s search for the unknown leads to a whimsical sense of spirituality for both him and the Whitman brothers, easily delineating The Darjeeling Limited as the auteur’s best work to date. The use of songs by The Kinks, the Marc Jacobs designs, the dazed pastels; it is all Anderson to a T, but it is the first time such elements have allowed him to roam free, rather than cooping him up inside.

Chris Cabin