Posted at 9:30 a.m.
We are warned even before the first image: “freely inspired by real events”.
It is precisely necessary to accept this proposition in order to fully appreciate eiffel. In France, Martin Bourboulon’s film has the posture of a blockbuster. We recount the construction of the symbol par excellence of France with none other than Romain Duris in the role of Gustave Eiffel.
eiffel begins when its creator is praised for his contribution to the Statue of Liberty in New York. The French government then asked him to build a tower for the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1889.
Eiffel refuses at first, but will change his mind when he sees the woman he was to marry 20 years earlier (Adrienne, played by Emma Mackey, from Sex Education). This is the great historical freedom that must be embraced in order to be fully seduced by eiffel. If so, lovers of romantic period frescoes will find what they are looking for, as will lovers of Paris.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY SEVILLE FILMS
Martin Bourboulon pointed out that he added a hypothetical romance to eiffel to move away from the documentary. Nevertheless, we learn a lot of facts throughout the film: the challenges of construction on wet ground, the lightning protection device, the curvature of the edges, the size of the offices and the workshop of the Eiffel Establishments, etc.
For its creator, the Eiffel Tower should be that of all classes. “That’s what’s modern,” he says during dinner where Adrienne pushes him (a little too quickly) to finally embark on the project of unparalleled scope.
Lack of subtlety
Romain Duris plays with fervor and accuracy, as usual. Emma Mackey also bursts the screen, although her leap in age is not very credible (nor the fact that she never met Eiffel again before their reunion, since he knows her husband very well).
The chemistry, passion and tension between the two lovers nevertheless works very well. You should know that the film multiplies the round trips with the past, while Gustave manages the construction of a bridge near Bordeaux. He met Adrienne around this time and the couple were even to get married.
All in all, the film lacks subtlety, especially in the scenes of Gustave Eiffel’s torments and Adrienne’s ingenious replies on audacity. Fortunately, our little moments of annoyance are mitigated by the race against the clock of the breathless construction of the Eiffel Tower with all the security challenges that entails, but above all all the popular discontent that it arouses. Even the pope declares that the 300 m height of the tower constitutes a “humiliation” to the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris.
In short, Eiffel does not incorporate romance into the story with a capital “H” with the same finesse as the film from which Martin Bourboulon was undoubtedly inspired, titanic. But we must not completely sulk his pleasure for all that.
Indoors
Historical romance drama
eiffel
Martin Bourboulon
With Romain Duris and Emma Mackey
1:48