Midweek Mention... Eiffel

Eiffel

Cris:

Hello

Sidey: Hello I was about to say we should probably do this en francais

Dan: Well,

Cris: oh wait, Bon,

Dan: this is the review of the film. Eiffel.

Cris: Oui.

Dan: Um, And you chose this Chris,

Cris: It was my choice because it was a bit confusing. I did propose something last week and we thought, Pete said to me, Oh no, let's just wait, don't do anything French. We're gonna do something Halloween related because it's Halloween the 31st. just a couple of days. done that last Halloween. And we did

Dan: Yeah,

Sidey: Yeah. Well, this is not related to the film in any way, but if we had done that by the time they were edited, it would've been past, past Halloween anyway, so we should have done that last week. And we did have some good.

Halloween suggestions on our discord. I think we should just watch them and talk about them at

Dan: time, but as is time saying earlier, it is probably Pete's fault.

But

Sidey: 100 percent peaceful and it's a shame that Pete's not here because he does excel in the French

Dan: pronunciations.

Sidey: Yeah. So we'll just muddle our way through. But yeah, this was, the, it uses some terminology at the start to basically tell you that it's, that other than the building of the Eiffel Tower, it's bullshit. So it's a, it's a sort of story about Gustav Eiffel,

Dan: Gustav Eiffel.

Sidey: and a love story that is intertwined with the building of the

Dan: Yeah, and the cast, you've got Roman Duress, he's Gustav Eiffel. You've got Emma McKay as Adrian Borges,

Sidey: Yeah, so she was the, well, the other guy, the Romain Dewey we recognised from our main feature that we watched this week. And Emma McKay, McKay so I thought that she was a Brit and I was like, wow, her French accent's really good. But she is French and moved to the UK at 17. So you will have seen her possibly in Sex Education on Netflix?

Yeah,

Cris: and moved to the UK at 17. So you would I was pretty sure she's English, but then, but then I've, I remember seeing this and she really sounds French. As in no, you know, any, any adding to it or anything.

Dan: now we know that's because she was French.

Sidey: Deladon Chomps as Antoine

Cris: also a Barbie. Oh yes, yeah.

Dan: well you've, you've got Pierre Deladon Chomps as Antoine Restac. So he played Antoine and as I'm just nailing these in, despite Pete not being here, we're almost not noticing the difference. There's Omandi Bouflanga as

Sidey: Buflanga as Claire Eiffel. Boulanger. Sounds like a, sounds like a baker. Anyway, really this is kind of Gustave and Adrien's story. And it's told in a non linear way. So the very opening of it is the completion

Cris: Yes. Yeah. Have you, have you ever been to the Eiffel Tower? Okay, have you been up? Have you not? I've been up there. And it actually is really cool up there. 300

Sidey: Have you, have you been up there. And it actually is really cool up there. 300 metres. 1000

Cris: meters. Yeah. Thousand feet.

Sidey: feet.

Cris: It's massive. Using your own words. And also it's it really has. It has a I'm trying to be cool here because I've actually been to the top. There is apparently one of the main conditions with this movie tells us differently. But one of the main conditions he had was not even necessarily to get paid, but he wanted a room and he wanted the top of the Eiffel Tower to be his office.

And there's I think if I remember correctly, the wax statue of Gustave Eiffel and Sir Isaac Newton, when they had a meeting, he held a meeting with him at the top of the Eiffel Tower in his office. And that's, if you look through the window, obviously you can't get in, it's a very small kind of thing, but if you have a look there, it's a, it's a wax statue.

It looks really, really cool, and you've got a great view from, from the top, obviously, but it's also very windy.

Sidey: I bet. And so the, the story then flips from seeing the thing completed to how the idea came about, what it was for you know, how did it, you know, what the process was to get the

Dan: Yeah, because I, I didn't know a lot about Gustav to be honest and it was interesting to, to learn that he'd been instrumental in making the Statue of Liberty stand up.

So he hadn't been the final design or anything on that, but it was his engineering prowess that allowed, the lady to stand, if you like. And so he was big news at the time and all the politicians and, and all the gentry and everything were, were really keen to have him come in and do something for them.

And he was on about doing a Metro, I think he, he wanted to, to do something really useful and practical. Whereas there

Sidey: of we see some other stuff that he's doing and he's building a bridge at one point earlier on in his career and again, that's more of a practical thing and we see him sticking up for his his team His the workers someone nearly drowns and he saves them.

So he's he's a man of the people But he also, he wants to be known for doing some, like, cool shit.

Cris: Yeah.

Dan: And he, he's he's there, you know, pretty, pretty talented. I think he's, he's obviously been part of the war effort as well because a couple of generals at one point

Sidey: I mean the french being part of the war effort is a bit

Dan: like Indochina or wherever they're all kind of doffing their caps.

Anyway, he, he's a man that really knew his stuff really well respected and was heavily kind of sought after for, for any big projects going. And this Eiffel project or something is. Is being proposed. Somebody wants it done, don't they?

Sidey: Well, the World Fair is coming to town and they need something there's a basically an open invitation for tender people to put their ideas forward for their submission of what they're going to do. build, you know, everyone's coming to town and they want to showcase Paris's talents and There's we see a little mock up in his office where his team has put together this Idea of a tower and he I think he calls it a pylon and says he doesn't really like it at first Doesn't wow him

Cris: Would he wants the Metro, if he favours the Metro as an engineering...

Sidey: that's not grand enough for the world

Cris: Well,

Dan: But that's not the World Fair. No. No, and he's not really convinced up until this kind of love story starts getting entwined into the, into it, because We

Sidey: well we meet Adrianne, but it's, it's clearly later on in their story and she appears at a meeting and, and. Posits this idea. So he's been shown a mock up of I guess it's like a foot high does look a bit like a pylon at first.

He's not keen and then when they go to this um like a town hall kind of meeting she starts to say well you know what we what we put forward for Paris should be grand and it should be something that represents blah blah blah and he's obviously like. Captured by what she's saying and straight away.

He's then he's then putting forward this idea and Again, well, it should be like fucking 300 meters tall and rather than they were like, well, is that even possible?

Dan: And then, yeah, he starts talking about how it should be there for all people, you know, not just anybody should be able to see it. The poor, the rich everybody should be able to enjoy this and it'll be a, a real symbol of hope and that everybody will be able to see and, you know, our prowess and everything.

So,

Sidey: So they're kind of taken with that. And then after the meeting we see these two interact and he says I hoped I would never see you again And it's clear that they have history.

Dan: Yeah. Well this is it. They've stolen a few glances across the, the table and it's been, and I wasn't sure what was going on. I was thinking, is this the first time they've met?

They've just got an instant chemistry. But then when they're stood outside and her husband goes off to get their new fangled invention, which is a car. Yeah. He's waiting there and he. Doesn't say anything and she calls him out and says say something and exactly that

Sidey: he doesn't look around. He doesn't look at her Does he just

Dan: just says I Wish I'd never seen you again.

So you realize there's there's history And as you say the films not linear, so we're jumping in and out of timelines

Sidey: it goes back he was building a bridge or he's part of the team responsible for building this Bridge over the the river

Cris: Go on.

Sidey: and there there was this problem with someone one of the crew fell in and he had to rescue him and so he's demanding that there needs to be more scaffolding and they don't have enough and it's all underfunded so he goes to meet this fella who's obviously a big wig and he whilst he's there when he first gets there we see Adrian for the first time and she's up to high jinks she's wearing A pantsuit.

Dan: Yeah.

Sidey: And I think she's doing that against societal norms of the time, should we say? And her father is not impressed. He doesn't want her to kind of show him up at this fancy do but he invites Gustav when he speaks to him. He said, look, just stay for lunch and you can, we'll talk afterwards. And that's when they meet and he's there just to say that we need more wood.

We need more wood for the scaffolding. The site is not safe. We can't have this and he's kind of like Dan plays it, the fella, doesn't he

Dan: He Yeah, he, he does. And, and he gets he gets over the line because she starts advocating for his case. He Yeah. She'd, that's right.

She had watched it, hadn't she? She'd seen

Cris: starts advocating for it. doesn't matter.

Dan: she'd also seen him stand up to the foreman, who was a big guy. And he, he had no kind of heart. He was saying, get back to work, it doesn't matter. And then she was impressed by this. And, and I've to

Sidey: She was impressed by this and I have to say she's like absolutely stunning. She looks absolutely beautiful and he's taken with her straight away ends up coming back then for her birthday. Where they share a few moments and they're playing musical chairs where they end up sort of squash next to each other on the same chair and there's obviously a connection and they have a walk off together and he gets a little bit.

Dan: Yeah. full on. Yeah, he

Sidey: he goes in for a kiss and she pulls away and he grabs her arm. He's quite forceful with

Dan: Yeah,

Sidey: you're like, hello.

Dan: a couple of times you thought, oh, he's a bit, you know... forward here before he knows it. But he's a very serious man. And and he, she says at one time, you're serious. And he says, Oh, did it bother you?

And she said, no, no. But you know, he, he doesn't want to play games. He's just, he's there.

Sidey: He's with the wrong woman because she does want to play a game.

Dan: Yeah, she really

Sidey: She seemed like she was. I don't know if it's ever stated in the film, but she seemed like she was a bit younger than him, quite a bit younger than him.

And she's. Maybe a little bit immature at this point because she is playing games with him And when she goes to meet him at his office, he calls her out on it He says look i'm not interested in all that bullshit

Dan: a little bit immature at the door straight away. He goes, look, we were out there. Basically, I don't know. He was a bit full on at the party. I don't

Sidey: He says there was a misunderstanding. I thought he thought that she was keen as keen as him. And it was a little bit weird. But he says, you know, you should leave. And she says, if you think I'm playing games, and she trots over because his office is right by the river there.

Cris: Yeah,

Sidey: And just throws herself in expecting him to clothes on.

Yeah,

Dan: And she's got, you know, big, heavy,

Cris: Dress,

Dan: sort of old

Sidey: period dress of the time. It's, you know, it's full on

Dan: and she just sinks, she just keeps going, you can't fight against that, and she's probably not thinking about that at all. He was though,

Sidey: effectively has to undress her.

Dan: Underwater under water

Sidey: to get her to be buoyant enough to

Dan: yeah. Yeah, that's what they do.

And then he gets, and she finally apologizes and he seems to get what he wants because even when he, he's like, still thinking it's a bit weird, gusav, like the girl's

Sidey: seems like trouble

Dan: quite vulnerable now as well. Like she's all cold in that. But he makes the moves and they do end up kind of on the face of it falling in love because they have this kind of whirlwind romance and he's.

You know, I mean, he's, he's besotted with her, you can

Sidey: Yeah, so this is then becomes intertwined with the progress of the building of the tire. So the whole the the tower effectively is a metaphor for their relationship and they're quite heavy handed with it. They have the meetings on how, right, okay, we want to do this, if they choose, well, I think they have a presentation where he's going to say, well, look, this is how we're going to do it.

They're like, well, right by the river. So foundations for start going to be a fucking nightmare. It's like, no, no, we've invented all these different ways of doing it. So don't need to get into it now, but, you know, it's

Dan: yeah.

It's amazing, really, though, the engineering

Sidey: because it's obviously low tech now, but it would have been

Dan: all about air, air pressure and things like that. That would, it would force the water levels down when they built, so they could fill it in with cement and keep it dry enough, long enough to do it. And then, yeah, yeah. These kind of hydraulic things.

So eventually when the tower starts needing to be leveled and joined up with different parts, they can adjust by a few millimeters here and there to make sure that it just. fits perfectly. And he's got all this going on amid amid loads of money problems that are coming in because at the same time, the the money problems are having, they're also in real time having

Sidey: We've seen actually that we haven't mentioned this but Gustav has a daughter um and and we know that that's not from Adrienne, right? Yeah. But it's never that's never kind of cleared. I think if his wife had died

Dan: Yeah, he's, he must have had a relationship at one point, because he's got an 18 year

Sidey: there's a fairly big gap in some parts of their relationship him and adrian and so when whilst the Beginning build of the eiffel tower is going. Well, their relationship is great then we we obviously know that they have hit a rocky patch and and it's later revealed when we see a flashback that Her family don't approve of him.

He's not good enough. And she goes that I think the the family having breakfast and

Dan: How wrong were they? Like literally he built the

Sidey: Well, we can get into all the other stuff that he's done as well later on but she says that they're gonna marry and the mother and father say, no, you're not. We've spoken about it.

He's not good enough for you. So, I'm sorry but that's not happening and she drops the bombshell that she's expecting his child. I don't know if it's ever.

Cris: Confirmed,

Sidey: that that was true or whether it's a lie from her either way, she does a runner and we have been led to believe at this point seeing it only from Gustav's point of view that she had left that that some he he just knows that she's left.

He's gone to the house. He's been told

Cris: that she left.

Sidey: she just plays games. You were just one of her games and she's gone. She's moved to the city. You know, she doesn't want to be with you. That's what he thought. So he's been absolutely sold down the Swanee. When we see it back from the, we get the full picture is that she does a runner and the father chases her.

And she's frantically trying to get out of there, just trying to run away from home effectively. And she tries to scale the gate is locked, so she tries to climb over the fence and it's decorated, it's one of those kind of wrought iron, big, long,

Dan: yeah. With sharp pointy edges.

Sidey: the kind of decorative but also very dangerous spikes effectively on the top of each panel and she tries to climb over and you're thinking that's ill advised and the old man kind of grabs her but it doesn't really pull her but she loses her balance and

Dan: Billy tugs her dress as she's halfway

Sidey: like an episode of 999. Do you remember that? Yeah. So she's impaled and if she was pregnant, she's that's

Cris: Not anymore.

Sidey: gonna be difficult and then it's not till later when she reappears that and they have sex that we see the scars and he and she tells him and we realize that. Fuck it was just like he was lied to and she was prevented from but in the meantime He had met someone else and she had got married to someone else and so it's

Dan: But as, as they've kind of drifted back into each other's orbits, they've, their eyes have locked again and there's unfinished business and he's still in love with her. He's still, and there's still

Sidey: Well, there's a presentation, isn't there? There's a presentation where she holds his hand

Cris: When he gets elected for the thing,

Sidey: and the and her husband clocks it because they're really like blatant about it You're like, come on guys,

Dan: Yeah, and and actually the her husband is is a really big fan of Gustav's as well. I mean, he invites him into his home and he's,

Sidey: Yeah, he's kind of done a dirty on him

Dan: he's he's somehow connected with the business or decisions to

Sidey: sort of involved in the like a financier. Yeah.

Dan: Yeah. And yeah, well, he was a fan up until the

Sidey: well, I think he's known about it and he's put up with it for quite a while because he's been Getting some dirt and he's, he's sort of bided his time before he starts making ultimatums about it.

So they've, they've obviously been carrying on for a little while. And so whilst she, she effectively, she, I've got to stop saying effectively. She has to leave. She pulls up the car pulls up and he thinks it's just going to be her and he gets into the car and the husband's there.

Dan: Oh, that's a shocking moment, wouldn't it?

Sidey: and she's taught she tells him no, it's my decision. It's over. We're going to have to go which then leads to all the difficulties in the project where There's a milestone that they have to get to. Like the first premieritage, the first floor, they have to get there and then they can unlock the next level of financing to complete the project.

So it's stored and it doesn't look like it's going to go anywhere.

Cris: going to go anywhere. Yeah, there's a meeting with the banks and they say no, any more

Sidey: he pretty much does a fraud, because I don't think he has that money.

Cris: more to do with him, and the accountant's kind of threatens everyone with,

Dan: well, he says

Cris: all my money, but I don't

Dan: whatever it

Sidey: He goes, the workers have gone on strike because they're French. So what else are they going to do? And he got, he climbs up to the top of the top of where they've got to. And he says, look, I can't pay you any more now. But I'll double your wages when, when we fit, we'll pay you double.

So they're all like fine. Never mind about all the dead because at the start he's promised no one's going to die on this site

Dan: Yeah. Has anybody

Sidey: I think they say there's been a few injuries and probably a few deaths. Yeah Because the the stuff they're doing in the foundation is really dangerous. And so he says look I think someone shouts out.

What about our safety and he's like i'll pay you more So they're okay with that

Dan: up until then, he has been, as far as health and safety goes, because it's a, a monument and you hear him a couple of times, you know, nobody's gonna die on this project because it's going to represent, you know, France and everything.

You don't want it to be built on the

Sidey: Yeah, he seems to have, apart from his weird rapey thing with Adrian, he does seem to be a good guy. He wants to be, this to be something to represent the best of France and

Cris: He also, he also, I, I, I have this, that he, when he gets really angry, when she decides to leave, he kind of gets a little bit proud and he's like, the construction want, he's gonna make it with rivets instead of bolts, so it'll never be torn down.

So he is like, I'm gonna do it so that no one can take it down.

Dan: That's it, yeah. Well, he starts putting it together and there's this fantastic part where they start that first level and just doing the gas and the, and

Sidey: it Well there's a guy, there's a guy sort of lent over one big,

Dan: So he's trying to Girder.

Sidey: girder and he's having, he's having to be held by some, by his belt while he tries to feed one of his rivets in and he's like, no, we're, some measurement...

Dan: 13 mil left.

Sidey: Yeah, well, the first one he says is that we're, we're X amount out. And they, so they do the first one's the, the pneumatic one, because the one is sand where they have to let sand out and it drops.

The other one, the other one is more like compressed air. And the second one, he goes, yeah, we're 16 mil out. And I'm like, he knows by eye

Cris: Yeah. he just looked, yeah.

Sidey: mil fuck off. But anyway, it's just to demonstrate the technology of how they get the two. Parts of the tower at that point to

Dan: And then

Sidey: it's very clever.

Dan: rivets in,

Sidey: That's like two bits. Maybe that's all over the first bit connected It's like a symbolic bit where they've they've reached a milestone

Dan: connected.

It's like a symbolic bit where they've reached a

Sidey: of first base, we do see Adrian and Gustav have

Dan: Adrian and

Sidey: and I was wondering if we were going to get a French film. I was like, maybe we might get to see some boobs.

Dan: Of course you do.

Sidey: we do. Get in there. What a result. No dick though, sadly, but we do get boobs. So that was good. They have sex. And it kind of like just accelerates towards the completion of the project, really.

Dan: Yeah, yeah, we're moving on. There comes a part where yeah, you've got this awkward scene between Gustav and and the girl and the husband that we've had. And then they're starting then to get back together though, because they're still drawn. And she comes at that final moment when they built the tower and he's having a big celebration.

And was it the King of France comes along as well? She's in the crowd

Sidey: I think we were long past having kings of France at this point.

Dan: The president, king dog tan.

Sidey: Well, we've had a real heartbreak moment because he's earlier on, he tells his daughter that he's met someone. And I would like her to come and live with. Us and the daughter kind of accepts just wants him to be happy and accepts it and then it's not, you know, it's like the mega happy to the crushing defeat if that's when She goes off with her husband says, no, I can't be with you.

And she kind of gives, she, I think selflessly knows that it's probably more important for him to have the tower than it is to have her. And so she gives him the tower. I think, I think her husband is so high up that he could stop it. So she knows I will stay with him so that

Cris: You finish your project,

Dan: town. That is the kind of balance that he's, the ultimatum that the husband's given to her.

Sidey: And so you're right, Chris, when they have the presentation at the end, all the dignitaries like the mayor of Paris, I think it is,

Cris: Yeah, all, all,

Sidey: he's like welcoming them on stage today, you know, that's, that's how big of star he is for building this thing.

He just catches her, he just sees her in the

Cris: in the

Sidey: everyone's applauding and she applauds, but she's got tears in their eyes and he's shaking hands with, maybe it's the president. It's not, it wasn't entirely clear to me. Yeah. And he's got tears in his eyes and She just turns

Cris: turns around and leaves,

Sidey: But he has achieved it.

He's built the thing

Dan: He's built the thing. and it's reportedly in the shape of an A

Sidey: Well, that's the nice thing at the end, isn't it? Where he's he's got his sketchbook. There's quite that one. We'll get into it. There's a lot of scenes of him drawing in his his notepad, his desk, technical drawings or whatever and then he's he's just outlining again and you can see and then the camera sort of pans The tort, if l is the A of her name, and that's, you know,

Cris: And that's kind of the end, yeah,

Sidey: It's so, it's a li like, it's a, it's all I was thinking this is like the Taj Mahal, it's his tribute to her. it's

Dan: is also well, it's also the first place she'd ever said that he she loved him or he, you know, I think he told her before, but she'd never said it back. So for him, it obviously brought in this, you know, the. It's love, isn't it? It's romantic. The Eiffel Tower, it's got all romance and everything associated with it now.

So, but at the time it, it didn't really have that. It was, you know, they weren't sure what it was, feelings it was going to evoke. But you know, the fact that she had said, I love you for the first time to him on that tower probably meant for him really personal as well. But yeah, that was that was it then, wasn't it?

It just kind of,

Cris: He just glances at the city from the top and he's just kind of, that's how it

Sidey: finishes. Yeah,

Cris: the whole, the whole thing.

Sidey: Yeah, what do you think?

Dan: what Yeah, I mean, it is for films. It was interesting. The historical part of it, you know, the love interest part, I didn't think was the greatest story. To be honest, I was a little bit, you know, not bothered by that. I think it was the fact that it was such an interesting character and time and project that kept me interested in the in the film.

It I was Yeah, I

Cris: Yeah, I will. I have to say,

Dan: involved

Cris: I kind of agree with you. The only, I really hoped that it would be more about him as in the things that he's done and the project and how he actually built it.

I didn't want technical terms in terms of all the bolts and how the, but it's more of a love story than a, than a, it's this name named. But it's more a personal thing, which revolves around him building the tower, rather than the tower and him building the tower being the main kind of idea of

Dan: well it's, it's sort of...

Cris: The love story is more than the

Dan: Fact and fiction, isn't it? And,

Sidey: trouble I had with it is it's just really low stakes. So you know that the tour gets built because you've fucking seen it. So that side of it, there's not really any drama. When it says at the start, it says something like it uses kind of like nice flowery French language to say it's based on a true story, but there's lots of artistic license.

So basically the whole relationship effectively is made up. So, so when we were watching last night and I got home from work saying, I've been thinking about that film all day. I said, you know, like the relationship's all made up. Oh, and so that's like pretty much not the stuff thing out

Dan: Yeah I mean if that was a true sort of story then okay, but yeah, it was made

Sidey: I thought the performances are pretty good. Emma McKay especially I thought she was really good and sorry to take it to like base levels but I'm a dude and she's stunning. I think I agree with you Chris. It would have been more interesting. I think. Just to have a flat out documentary just about

Cris: and not, not necessarily documentary as in asking people or, you know, bringing nephews

Sidey: Now we're just talking more about the projects he's done because they're like pretty amazing if he's obviously he's built this he's done all the stuff That they show in the film beforehand but then he went into meteorology and aerodynamics because he we see in the film where he has to do commentations based about the effect of the wind on the make sure it's not obviously going to fall over.

And so he had wind tunnels and things built at the base of the Eiffel Tower that was used by the Wright brothers and getting the aerodynamics right for the first flight, all that sort of stuff. So it's pretty amazing life that he's had. That would have been to me more interesting to know about than a fake romance

Cris: have been, to me, more interesting to know about than a fake. I think the

Sidey: I did I did enjoy it while it was on telly but just reflecting on that thought when it was fairly flimsy and far away Like, you know, I wouldn't

Dan: it wasn't awful, you know,

Cris: awful. Don't go in deconstructed the aftercare in 10

Dan: I didn't, I didn't go in with high hopes.

And I, I would recommend if you end up watching this, don't go in with high hopes and you might be pleasantly surprised.

Sidey: I don't know what the budget was for it, but it made 13. 6 million euros at the box office,

Dan: Nah,

Sidey: which is a pretty decent amount of money. I can't imagine it cost that, that much. Although it did look like they completely deconstructed the Eiffel Tower and had to start rebuilding it to make the film. So that must, that

Dan: Yes,

Sidey: quite but yes, it's a moderate recommend for me.

Cris: with good enough. You never know. What is a moderate recommend for me?

Dan: In the way people