Reviews

Eiffel

Reviewed by Vaughan Ames

Our new season started last Sunday with what turned out to be a pretty lightweight French love story - 'Eiffel'. Based on an unlikely (but, apparently not impossible) premise that Gustave Eiffel was inspired to design his now famous tower by the return of a long-lost lover, Adrienne (where else could the 'A' design have come from...?). They had planned to marry 20 years earlier, but her parent forbade it.

Jumping from the past to the present we followed our forlorn lovers from when Eiffel was building a bridge in her home town, to 1886 when he wanted to design the Paris Metro as the French entry to the 1889 World Fair, but was convinced to drop this plan for a 300 metre high tower to impress the world with French genius. His conviction appeared to come simply from Adrienne preferring the tower…
The politics of the tower being first accepted, then hated, then loved, rather than its construction, dominated the film outside their love affair, which was a shame as the CGI of the building was impressive. But it was their love which overshadowed even the politics. It did make for a pretty story (I was waiting for him to burst into song with 'Here I am on the Street where You Live' at one point when he was frightened to speak to her) but it seemed a bit of a waste to push the tower so far into the background. An easy, enjoyable film to watch, then, but maybe not a memorable one.