But the children gravitate back to Etheline's side as well. It is clear that despite their advanced age, they have remained emotionally stunted, as if all the Tenenbaum children are still trapped in the ages when they had their first successes. None of them have ever quite fulfilled the promise they showed as young people. Excellence comes naturally to them, but the basic acts of living and family life seem very difficult.
Like all of the Tenenbaums, Etheline believes the rules of normal polite society do not apply to her and she seems slightly out of touch with reality. Etheline is confident she has raised a brood of geniuses. Ironically, she seems well-adjusted to her eccentric life, although her children are not. The children seem angst-filled and unable to appreciate the smallness of their worries in comparison to those of the rest of the world. Yet although all of her children struggle romantically, Etheline seems supremely secure and is even being courted by younger, handsome financial adviser, Henry Sherman. This spawns a great deal of bickering and shock amongst the adult children, although Etheline is blithely unconcerned.
The humor of the film...
The various intersecting plots involving the Tenenbaum
family all revolve around family deceit and
deception, such as Royal Tenenbaum's false claim that he is dying from stomach cancer and Margot's cigarette addiction. The rather cartoonish texture of the film -- the children do not react when an insult is lobbed, or react in an extreme fashion -- makes it hard to take the family conflicts seriously. The fact that Etheline often does not seem surprised at their childishness, despite the fact that she is the children's
mother, intensifies this impression. This is not a film about people with 'real problems,' despite the occasional interjections of reality, like the
death of Chas' wife. Instead, these supposedly wise prodigies are so foolish must manufacture problems, including serious illnesses.
Works Cited
The Royal Tenebaums. Directed by Wes Anderson. 2001.
