CULTURE ❘ EIFFEL TOWER
“I WAS DRAWN TO THE THEME OF THE ENGINEER-ARTIST WHO FINDS REFUGE IN HIS WORK AND SEES IT THROUGH TO COMPLETION”
of time – swooping in over Paris and catching the free-falling lift. With the residents of Paris still in mortal danger, the Man of Steel flies the lift straight through the top of the Eiffel Tower and into outer space where it explodes – leaving Lois standing on the Tower of Iron contemplating her next damsel-in-distress move. Tower rating:
A VIEW TO A KILL (1987)
While the 14th Bond film came in for a lot of criticism when it was released in the late 1980s – not least because Roger Moore was 57 at the time of filming and needed a stunt double to run up stairs – A View to a Kill has a lot going for it: a great villain played by Christopher Walken; a memorable henchwoman in Grace Jones’ May Day and a fabulous chase scene on
and around the Eiffel Tower. After killing a local private detective at the Jules Verne restaurant on the tower, May Day scarpers up the monument with Bond in fast (well fast-ish) pursuit. As 007 closes in, the assassin jumps off the top of the tower and parachutes to the bottom. Not to be outdone, Bond rides down atop of one of the lifts and hijacks a taxi to continue the chase. Tower rating:
MOULIN ROUGE! (2001)
The focus of Baz Luhrmann’s jukebox romantic drama might be the cabaret hall at the foot of Montmartre which gave us the can-can, but the Eiffel Tower – a fellow Belle Époque structure – does pop up in a pivotal scene. As the love between young writer Christian (Ewan McGregor) and star Moulin Rouge performer Satine (Nicole Kidman) starts to bloom, their romance is conveyed in a lavish reworking of Elton John classic Your Song. In what is an increasingly fantastical sequence, Christian’s voice lights up the Eiffel Tower before the couple twirl into the clouds and hunker under a pink umbrella while glitter rains down on them. With the moon smiling from on high, Christian hangs from the monument as he croons to Satine. It’s magical stuff all right. Tower rating:
RATATOUILLE (2007) Pixar’s love-letter to Paris and its gastronomy has so many magical scenes, it’s difficult to narrow it down to just one. A strong contender, though, is the moment Rémy (Patton Oswalt) – a rat with a highly developed sense of taste and smell – realises the sewer he’s been hiding out in belongs to the greatest culinary destination on Earth. After being told to leave his gloomy surroundings and look around by the ghost of his hero, chef Auguste Gusteau (Brad Garrett), Rémy scurries up inside an apartment building and ends up on the roof. There, stretching out in front of him is the City of Light with the Eiffel Tower shimmering in the distance. “All this time I’ve been underneath Paris?” says Rémy, with the elation every foodie feels as they prepare to eat their way around the French capital. Tower rating:
94 ❘ FRANCE TODAY Aug/Sep 2022
LOST IN PARIS (2016)
Belgian filmmaking duo Dominique Abel and Fiona Gordon use the French capital as their playground in the oddball Lost in Paris, their expertly crafted physical comedy routines reaching a climax at the top of the Eiffel Tower. Gordon plays Fiona, a Canadian in Paris looking for her lost aunt Martha (Emmanuelle Riva). During a bumbling search she crosses paths with homeless man Dom (Abel) who agrees to help her track down the missing pensioner. They eventually land up on the Eiffel Tower where the accident-prone Fiona almost tumbles to her death when the ladder she is climbing comes loose. They find Martha sleeping in a satellite dish and the trio take in spectacular views of Paris in what is a moving end to a mad adventure. Tower rating:
MEN IN BLACK: INTERNATIONAL (2019) The Eiffel Tower may look harmless but, in the latest Men in Black film, it’s home to a wormhole that could lead to the destruction of the planet. Stepping up to stop parasitic race The Hive from piling into Paris are agents Hight T (Liam Neeson) and H (Chris Hemsworth) who, after interrupting a wedding proposal on the tower, do battle with the bad guys as
the city sparkles below. Just when you think things are safe, Agents H and M (Tessa Thompson) need to travel back to the Eiffel Tower to stop another Hive surging and ensure the only heaving, bug-eyed creatures on the monument are tourists who decided to use the stairs and not the lift. Tower rating: FT
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