What's Phoenician about The Phoenician Scheme?

Abstract

This analysis of Wes Anderson’s 2025 film, The Phoenician Scheme, examines the presentation of the a-historical "Phoenicia" througout the film. Phoenicians are evoked in the film in three main ways: as a heritage, as a fictionalized place, and as an aesthetic, as I’ll unpack below. The first two—heritage and place—were undertaken deliberately and likely represent the extent to which Anderson intended the film’s title. The third, aesthetic, may be a coincidence of the colonial (and Egyptomania-inspired) references the film makes, but these visual resonances end up deepening the significance of the film’s title, given how Phoenicians are known (or remain unknown) to most western audiences.