The City of Love provides a lustrous backdrop to a long-winded historical romance. This suggests that her A-shaped landmark in the beating heart of Paris was a tribute to the young woman who deceived Alexandre Her Gustave Her Eiffel.
Caroline Bongrand’s screenplay claims to be “liberally inspired by a true story,” but it’s not exactly that the tower that dominates the skyline of the French capital was built in honor of Adrianne de Lestac. There is no historical evidence for
Either way, Martin Bourbron’s film swoons over the potential for love as the catalyst for one of the great feats of 19th-century engineering.
Eiffel sketches nearly three decades of forbidden love, fueled by the seething screen chemistry between Romain Duris and Emma Mackie. It almost reached a boiling point during her sequence of expertly choreographed dances, captured in one smooth take of her by cinematographer Matthias Boukar.
He shoots the characters in silhouette against the ocher glow of the setting sun, bathing the sex scenes in flickering firelight.
The same warmth is lacking in the script, which treats marvels like the Eiffel Tower design, social unrest, and labor riots as footnotes to an outdated epic melodrama.
“You stare at your tower like a man in love,” Adrian cooed to Eiffel.
I would like to see the paintings of Bourbronn with the same passion.
In 1889, three years after French civil engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel (Duris) accepted honorary citizenship of the United States for his contributions to the Statue of Liberty, the so-called “Iron Wizard” builds the subway system pursue his dream of In the French capital for the upcoming Universal Exposition.
Emma Mackey as Adrien Bourges and Romain Duris as Gustave Eiffel. Photo: PA Photo/Vertigo Releasing/Antonin Menichetti.
To further his cause, Eiffel enlists the help of an old friend from preparatory school, Antoine de Lestac (Pierre Doradonchamp), a journalist with close ties to the Minister of Commerce.
Alas, the minister rejects Eiffel’s proposal and demands something more ambitious to present France as an architecture and design powerhouse.
Joining the chorus of disapproval is Antoine’s wife Adrienne (Mackey), who happens to be Eiffel’s old flame.
The engineer still holds the torch 20 years after the painful separation.
To impress Adrian and the minister, Eiffel vows to build a 300-meter-tall wrought-iron tower in direct opposition to the residents who fear that his “lamp of shame” will collapse.
The Eiffel Tower isn’t built with the same impeccable attention to detail as the tower, and a Bourbron movie is unlikely to inspire a revisit.
The awe and wonder of Landmark’s ingenious design underpins the scene at its best, showcasing Eiffel’s sandbox and hydraulic jack system that changes the tower’s 4-foot position by millimeters and connects the girders. I can do it.
The production and costume designs are impressive and fill the frame when raw emotion is noticeably lacking.
Our Rating: 5.5/10
Release in Ireland: August 12th
(15, 108 minutes) Romance/Drama. Romain Duris, Emma Mackay, Armand Boulanger, Pierre Doradonchamp, Bruno Raffaelli, Alexandre Steiger, Andranic Manet. Director: Martin Bourbron.
