Movie Review: “Eiffel” – Osses of Love

Drama / romance

Regi:

Martin Bourboulon

Actors:

Romain Duris, Emma Mackey, Pierre Delandonchamps

Release Date:

13. May 2022

Age limit:

9 years

«You will never look at the Eiffel Tower in the same way again.»

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In the feature film “Eiffel”, we meet him in the form of actor Romain Duris. After designing the metal construction that holds the Statue of Liberty upright, the engineer Eiffel is challenged to create something groundbreaking in connection with the World’s Fair in 1889. Most of all, he wants to design the Metro in Paris, but during a dinner he encounters his ex-girlfriend Adrienne (Emma Mackey), and abruptly the plans change. They have not seen each other in over twenty years, and although she is now married to one of Eiffel’s political supporters, he is still head over heels in love with her.

No wanderer

In retrospect, one witnesses the circumstances that caused them to be torn apart. She was from a wealthy family in Bordeaux, and the Eiffel was an ordinary man responsible for building a bridge across the river in the same city. The Eiffel was by no means a traitor, but still far from being the renowned engineer he would one day become.

Adrienne’s father refuses to accept their relationship, and orders the Eiffel to move on in life.

But now the Eiffel has the opportunity to show itself from its most flashy side. He puts aside the idea of ​​building the Metro. He wants to build a tower higher than any man has done before. Dedicated to Adrienne. Shaped like an «A».

Falsification of history

All that was missing was that the Eiffel Tower did not get its own film dedicated to love. Just like in “Titanic”, depiction of actual events is combined with a fictional love drama. Eiffel wanted to marry Adrienne, but the relationship was never resumed as it is done in the film. Some would call it a falsification of history, but after watching the film, one will be left with an ever so small “so what!” For “Eiffel” is an adventurous film that places us on a mainstay with panoramic views of Paris. That Eiffel does it for a woman he wants to share life with, reminds one just how beautiful and crazy love can be at one and the same time.

Completing the miracle is no easy task for the Eiffel. Because when Adrienne’s husband learns that the former couple still have an eye for each other, he can, with his political influence, stop the construction of the tower. The Parisians are also against the building because they fear it will fall on their heads. The pope believes it will overshadow Notre Dame, and when workers threaten to strike, Eiffel’s dream of perpetuating his love for the woman in his life is threatened.

Mackey and Duris give the characters a youthful spark and energy, which gives a belief that true love exists. The solid chemistry between the actors makes the unfinished Eiffel Tower stand as a beautiful backdrop throughout the film.

Could have gone further

But once you overdramatize a true event so that it no longer matches reality, the film could just as well have dragged it a little further. Because even though the building was realized in two years, the action is centered up to the first floor of the tower. Then it jumps abruptly forward in time, when the tower is completely finished. Although the dangers of working on the tower are in no way underestimated, there is a lack of dramatic elements associated with the work at height. Especially since the tower was erected when there was a lack of proper safety equipment, and only one wrong step could end fatally. It would not have been a minus if we had seen a couple of dramatic special effects related to this work.

But “Eiffel” is still an effective story where historical facts are cleverly mixed into the fiction. There is no superficial love story you witness. On the contrary, you feel like traveling to Paris, hand in hand with your chosen one, to see the tower up close.

There is no better place to declare eternal love for one another.

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