Filmmakers like architects take a unique look at their environment. Do those who have the task of drawing up the plans of our houses or our gathering places allow themselves to be influenced? by the cinema? Do the films represent a source of inspiration for them? In the series The architecture lesson, The duty goes to meet architects to talk about their profession, but through the filter of the seventh art.
Architecture is a mixture of nostalgia and extreme anticipation,” declared the philosopher Jean Baudrillard, a quote that the architect Éric Pelletier made his own. Because if he is recognized for the elegance of his creations anchored in the present time, such as the Bibliothèque du Boisé in the Saint-Laurent borough, the Bibliothèque de Charlesbourg or the Four Seasons hotel in downtown Montreal, this creator also wants to perpetuate the memory of the place and the work of his predecessors. For example, after years of waiting, he and his colleagues from the Lemay firm gave back to Montrealers one of the jewels of La Fontaine Park, the famous Théâtre de Verdure. Furthermore, in 2015, he accepted a major challenge: the preservation of the Grand Théâtre de Québec. The concrete of this emblematic building of the capital, a brutalist masterpiece by the Quebec architect of Polish origin Victor Prus (we also owe him the Palais des congrès de Montréal as well as the Mont-Royal and Bonaventure metro stations) , no longer resisted the assaults of time, pollution and climate change. In addition to protecting the exterior envelope of the building, it was necessary to preserve the dazzling mural by Quebec sculptor of Catalan origin Jordi Bonet — the two components were intimately intertwined. Éric Pelletier will offer the Grand Théâtre an imposing setting made up of 900 glass panels, a translucent and protective cage. Anyone who practices “the right gesture” has not been asked to talk about architecture and cinema.
We often compare filmmakers to orchestra conductors, but could we also assimilate them to architects? After all, these two groups of creators build universes, whether imaginary or planted in the ground!
The comparison with orchestra conductors is entirely valid. The conductor doesn’t play all the instruments and he can even be very clumsy with some of them. Now, in his orchestra, if he has recruited an excellent violinist, he wants not only to get the best out of him, but to ensure that he plays in harmony with all the other musicians. Both the conductor and the architect aim to achieve a balance.
As for the comparison with the filmmaker, I would say that the architect also has to juggle several things at once, and the construction site can resemble a film set, with the challenge of directing hundreds of extras, or ‘workers ! In fact, like the filmmaker shooting his film, seeing the constraints pile up and the budget never high enough, the architect must not stray from his vision of the project and do everything to prevent it from fading away.
In a report on the filming of Dune (2021), we saw Denis Villeneuve discussing with each of the film’s artisans, certainly the best in their field, including Patrice Vermette [directeur artistique et chef décorateur]. Everyone seems to enjoy great creative freedom, because this filmmaker knows how to create the conditions so that everyone can give their maximum, but everyone must take Villeneuve’s ambitions into account. My admiration for this filmmaker is not new: when I was studying in Italy, I had all the episodes of The world destination race (1990-1991) when he was one of the participants! I love the way he evokes emotion in his films, even Polytechnic (2009), which I didn’t want to see at first. I would dream of meeting him.
We will send him the message ! (laughs) From admiration to influencesometimes there is only one step: has the aesthetic of certain films had an effect on the way in which you imagine and conceive your projects?
I love cinema, but my schedule doesn’t allow me to see as many films as I would like. That said, I am inspired as much by what I discover in museums as during my travels and my readings: these are opportunities to open my eyes to other cultures, other worlds. Regarding my childhood cinematic influences, you may be surprised that I am talking to you about… James Bond! Even if I am disappointed with the departure of Daniel Craig, one of the best performers in the series, I have a particular affection for Sean Connery. It has to do with childhood, watching James Bond films on TV late at night with my father. I have a very clear memory of houses by the famous American architect James Lautner [dont une dans Diamonds Are Forever, de Guy Hamilton, 1971]or the brutalist-inspired decors in Dr.No [de Terence Young, 1962].
Filmmakers love to tell stories. Do you feel, as an architect, that you tell a story through the buildings you design?
Cinema can take us into the past, the present and the future; architects build for the present. Give me the mandate to [construire] a new school or a new library: if you give it to me today or in five years, the two projects will be completely different. In fact, each building represents a page of collective history and I love when there are references, anchor points, even subtle ones, to a neighborhood, a city, a society. Take for example the brutalist architecture in Quebec erected during the 1960s: we can read there our openness to the world, our thirst for modernity, the expansion of French-speaking culture, in short, a new Quebec.
How do you explain that we see so few architect characters in cinema, particularly in fiction films?
Many still have the image of the architect in a white shirt, tie and with his briefcase. The reality is not that! Our job is partly mathematical, technical and, of course, artistic. You can spend a day in front of ministers presenting a project and later find yourself on a construction site: you have to know what you want to do and be able to discuss with everyone, regardless of their status. Construction workers are as important as politicians.
This absence of the figure of the architect in cinema can perhaps be explained by our clumsiness in communicating what we do. Architecture is not just a matter of models and materials, but of spaces and emotions. Why couldn’t people understand architectural concepts? You have to talk to them using the right terms and allow them to imagine the project under construction.
For architecture, I dream of what we have managed to do in Quebec with… cuisine! Compare the situation 20 years ago to today. Lots of people have created a real passion for the culinary art among Quebecers. We are capable of appointing leaders who have become real personalities arousing pride.
Which of your projects would you like to see as a film set?
It’s like for our children: it’s impossible to choose just one! Each location can correspond to the needs of a director depending on the story to be told, whether it is a library or the Théâtre de Verdure. Otherwise, I would very well see the office of a villain in a James Bond movie filmed in the hall of the Louis-Fréchette room of the Grand Théâtre de Québec. Jordi Bonet’s mural is a unique work in an equally unique and grandiose place. The play of light in this building is absolutely magnificent. But I insist: the Grand Théâtre is not my work, I intervened as architect in order to preserve it for at least the next 50 years.
Finally, if I gave you the opportunity to live in a film, which one would you like?
Without a shadow of hesitation, I would live in Philippe Noiret’s modest house above the sea in Il Postino [de Michael Radford et Massimo Trosi, 1994] because I need this calm. On the other hand, as I love Rome, I would live in the magnificent apartments as well as the festive places of The great beautye [de Paolo Sorrentino, 2013]. Finding yourself in front of the Colosseum in the early morning, having tears in your eyes as you discover places in the Italian capital for the first time, that is also the power of architecture. Emotional power.