Rushmore (1988) was the second full-length film directed by Wes Anderson, and like his first film Bottle Rocket, it was co-written with Owen Wilson. The story revolves around 15-year-old Max Fischer (played by Jason Schwartzman) who attends the socially selective school Rushmore on an academic scholarship, and who at the beginning of the story is being told that he will be expelled if doesn’t improve his grades, which are low on account of the extraordinary number of clubs and societies Max is involved in. Max becomes friendly with businessman Herman Blume (Bill Murray) who has become disillusioned with most everything around him.
Herman Blume: What’s the secret, Max?
Max Fischer: The secret?
HB: Yeah, you seem to have it pretty figured out.
MF: The secret, I don’t know… I guess you’ve just gotta find something you love to do and then do it for the rest of your life. For me, it’s going to Rushmore.
Finishing off the trinity is the first grade teacher Ms Rosemary Cross (Olivia Williams), with whom Max becomes infatuated first (showing off to her with his play, convincing the school board to make Latin compulsory, and the building of a fish tank) the direction of his affection soon being joined by Mr Blume.
The stories of Max and Mr Blume run as parallel coming-of-age stories, meaning also that the failure of adolescence is not unlike the failure of adulthood. This analysis is not meant to imply that Max’s struggle is pointless (as if one only overcomes the pangs of adolescence by falling into the insanity of seniority) nor is it to imply that Blume’s ennui is pathetic (as if the boredom of the middle-aged is a petty reincarnation of teenage apathy). Rather: Rushmore‘s story is of an age-less coming-of-age story, it tells of two people who are at points of their lives where something is needed. By having the two protagonists share this vague existential need, the movie effectively divorces the concept of coming-of-age from being tied down to a particular period of life. Thus we are left with a poignant movie of people who are at different stages of their lives, each suffering from that nameless malady, that perennial and aimless desire, who find each other, and as a consequence help each other through.
External links:
Scott Tobias has a few words over at the AV Club, which also hosts an interview with Wes Anderson conducted around the time of the release of Rushmore.
