Day Six - Wednesday (March 12)

Eileen Gray—Invitation to a Voyage


Director: Jörg Bundschuh

Germany/2006/52 min/English

Now here was a gem to enjoy, and I thought it would be some fluff about textiles. Eileen Gray was an Irish libertine, avant-garde design artist and architect, who lived life on her own terms, coming into her own at the turn of the 20th century. A sample: a close association and later falling out with Le Corbusier, designs for furniture that remain world famous in authorized (and likely unauthorized) reproductions – the Bibendum and transat chairs, and of course, her famous minimalist house E-1027, patterned after an ocean liner, built on a craggy hill overlooking the Mediterranean at Roquebrune, not far from Monte Carlo. Great narration, great story, loads of talking heads who are engaging, interesting, and lively.



The Melnikov House

Director: Rax Rinnekangas

Finland/2007/58 min but should have been 30/Finnish with English subtitles


Unfortunately, sometimes a completely monotonous narrator and bad editing can just reduce an otherwise interesting subject to an exercise in excruciating boredom. Such was the narration and pacing of this documentary, that the few words spoken in Russian in the film sounded positively lively. Konstantin Melnikov designed his own house and had it built in the center of Moscow, towards the end of the 1920’s. The famous round house with hexagonal windows remains an iconic example of Constructivism, something Stalin banned in the 1930’s, with the decree that no modern architecture would be built in the USSR. Melnikov was confined to his house and took up painting as a means of supporting his family, until the early 1950’s, when he was considered “rehabilitated” and permitted once again to practice architecture. Maintained in the Melnikov family by his painter son, and then his granddaughter, the house is now destined to become a museum. While the utopian vision of the house and its design were very futurist, with very interesting socialist experiments, such as the communal bedroom with dividers providing visual privacy, and beds on raised plinths, it’s a striking contrast to his choice of old, comforting furniture for the majority of the house.

Not seen, but originally on our list:

Passolini Next to Us

Director: Giuseppe Bertolucci

Italy, France/2006/63 min/Italian with English subtitles

This film was cancelled, apparently the director (younger brother of Bernardo Bertolucci) wanted to show it and the producer didn’t. Since I had managed to sit through all of Salò, or 120 days of Sodom years ago, I would have really liked to have seen a documentary made on the set of the film, albeit with still photos set in a montage with Pasolini's interview. For some information on the film, look here.