Over a drink at Le Select, in Paris, Anderson admitted that he was troubled by the reception of Darjeeling, especially in light of the success, the following year, of Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire. "Why did this India movie become a big hit and mine didn't?" he said. He answered his own question: "With my style, I can take a subject that you'd think would be commercial and turn it into something that not a lot of people want to see."

Yes it would have to be Le Select in Paris... that joke just writes itself. But Anderson is half-right and half-wrong. It's not just his style that's the problem, but also his substance. Speaking as someone who has liked most of Wes Anderson's movies, The Darjeeling Limited's problem was not just style, but the absence of a movie. The Darjeeling Limited was low on actual human interaction and lines, and high on three annoying morose characters rushing around India and occasionally making small talk.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that this is not the formula for a great movie. Slumdog Millionaire was overhyped, but it succeeded over The Darjeeling Limited for the straightforward reason that it had a hero and a journey that made sense and characters interacting through speech.