Eiffel ★★★
BIOGRAPHY (2021)
Producer: Martin Bourboulon
Interpretations: Romain Durie, Emma Mackay, Armand Boulanger

Director Martin Bourboulon has an impressive budget, necessary, as it turned out, in order to depict Paris at the end of the 19th century.

The film that opened the last Francophone Film Festival and at the same time one of the biggest European films of the year is released this week to introduce us to a special historical figure. We are in 1886 and the already famous engineer Gustave Eiffel (Romain Duris) has just completed his contribution to the construction of the Statue of Liberty. He intends to work on the design of the Paris Metro, but the French government forces him to build a more impressive monument on the occasion of the 1889 World’s Fair to be held in the city. The idea of ​​a huge metal tower is born, at the same time, an old love passion returns to Eiffel’s life, which threatens to turn everything upside down.

Director Martin Bourboulon has at his disposal a truly impressive budget, necessary, as it turns out, in order to portray Paris – and not only – at the end of the 19th century, an era full of exciting events when modernism spread to all aspects of life. and art. In any case, the one who mainly moves the topics here is… love. In an extended flashback, we follow Eiffel’s encounter with Adrienne (Emma Mackay) while he is still a young engineer building a bridge in Bordeaux. The momentary attraction of two young people will be interrupted by trauma; many years later they will meet again, under completely different circumstances, but their passion will not fade away.

Film of the French period adheres fairly closely to the academic codes of the genre, but this is not necessarily a cause for concern. On the other hand, the idea that one of the most famous architectures in the world owes much of its existence to fatal love is certainly charming and (at least here) works. Of course, there must be a reason for interpretations. Romain Dury is as solid and showy as Eiffel as usual, while the “bilingual” Emma McKay, who we met on Netflix’s British “Sex Education”, also performs exceptionally well. “This role was a huge gift and it came at the right time: I had a great desire to star in a French film. I grew up in France, but as a teenager I moved to England, where I started doing theater. As soon as I read the script, I realized how much I wanted to participate,” she says in an interview.