TRAVEL may have been near impossible over the last two years, but Swan Hill Showbiz Cinema have the perfect escapist film for those craving a Parisian holiday.
Showbiz Cinemas Director Andrew Taylor said Eiffel is a “bit of an alternate one for Swan Hill as there is a nationwide two to three week gap in new films coming out due to the current COVID situation”.
And while the film will most likely only be on screens for the next two weeks, it looks like a must-see for Francophiles and cinephiles alike.
Having just finished collaborating on the Statue of Liberty, Gustave Eiffel, played by French A-lister Romain Duris, is at the high-point of his career.
The French government has requested he create something spectacular for the “Exposition Universelle” of 1889 in Paris, but Gustave is only interested in the city’s subway project.
But his life is turned upside-down when the great lost love from his youth reappears, and their secret affair will inspire him to change the face of Paris forever.
It’s the iconic Parisian tower we all know and love that is the real star of this film – and while the film is not a biopic, the narrative is as true to the historical context as possible.
Documents of the period reveal that Gustave Eiffel shared a passionate love relationship with Adrienne Bourgès, played by Emma Mackey in the film, while he was building La Passerelle St-Jean (the Saint John’s Bridge) in Bordeaux.
A wedding was announced but then cancelled by Adrienne’s parents.
He was 28 and she was 18 at the time, but in the ways of cinema, Mackey and Duris actually have a 22 year age gap.
While Gustave initially refused to take on the metal tower that has become synonymous with the French capital, at some point he seemed to change his mind completely.
The film poses the possibility that this was an act of love.
Director Martin Bourboulon said Duris, with whom fans of French cinema will be well acquainted, was his first and only choice.
“He corresponded precisely to the image of modernity I wished to lend to this project,” Bourboulon said.
“There is an ambivalence in Romain; he is contemporary and rock and roll in the way he carries himself but looks wonderful in period costume.”
Duris has starred in plenty of films over the years, but some of his most memorable roles have included Populaire, a colourful romcom about a typing competition in the 1950s; Molière, a period comedy about the celebrated playwright; and neo-noir The Beat That My Heart Skipped.
He has garnered plenty of praise and picked up a fair amount of César awards and nominations (which are equivalent to the Oscars) along the way.
Playing opposite him is young English-French actress Emma Macke,y who you might recognise from her standout role in the Netflix hit series Sex Education.
While she is relatively new to her career, she has already established herself as one to watch in her role as Maeve Wiley.
She will also appear in Kenneth Branagh’s upcoming flick Death on the Nile, and the biographical film Emily, based on the life of Emily Brontë.
“The offer was a huge gift that came to me just as my desire to be in a French film was at its strongest,” Mackey said.
“I grew up in Sablé-sur-Sarthe but as a teenager, it was crucial for me to go to England and explore the other facet of my dual cultural identity.
“That’s when I started doing theatre and was lucky enough to have a teacher who taught me everything and recommended me to a talent agent.”
Mackey almost immediately had the opportunity to audition for Sex Education, and the rest is history.
The actress said she couldn’t imagine anything more French than a film about the Eiffel Tower with Romain Duris, and this film is sure to change the way you view this iconic tower forever.
