Help Finding Art Nouveau Architecture & Craftsmanship in Film

[Starius]

Hello Loungers,

I'm putting out a call for help in finding examples of Art Nouveau architecture or craftsmanship in motion pictures. I realize that in the grand scheme of things, this is a rather obscure request. But, I figure if I'm going to find anyone with a chance of picking this stuff out besides myself, it'll be from movie or architecture buffs here at the lounge.

I don't expect anyone to know of any movies right off the top of their heads that fit the bill, (although I will be providing examples of two films in my next two posts) but if you're watching a movie sometime and you catch something Nouveau-ish, please let me know what movie here. I'd greatly appreciate it.

 

[Starius]

Georges Franju's Judex - 1963

 

[Starius]

Dario Argento's Deep Red (aka "Profondo rosso") - 1975

 

[carter]

Look at this website.

http://thepeakofchic.blogspot.com/2007/02/interior-design-in-film.html

 

[Starius]

Thanks for the link, Carter, though I couldn't find anything really Nouveau related there. Perhaps the person who runs that site might know of a few films though, I should send off a message to them.

The other day, another movie came to mind.... well, not a classic movie, but a modern mini-series. The Sci-Fi channel's Tin Man miniseries from 2007 did a decent job at recreating a Nouveau interior for DG's childhood bedroom.

 

[Doctor Strange]

I wasn't going to mention this, but if you're accepting Sci-Fi Channel crud like Tin Man...

The Elves in the Lord of the Rings films have a pronounced Nouveau-influenced design scheme in terms of everything from architecture to clothing and weaponry. This is seen best in the Rivendell and Lothlorien sequences in the first film.

 

[shortbow]

You beat me to it, DS. That was one of the things I most appreciated about LOTR.

 

[Starius]

Its been awhile since I've seen LotR, I'll have to watch that again sometime soon for those scenes. Though, I imagine I might actually get a better look at that stuff from production artwork books, I know a bunch of LotR art books were released when those films came out.

It does bring up a distinction I'll have to make though, should my list of films grow here. Initially, I did just have older films in mind for examples of art nouveau - since I was assuming that they would be the most likely places to find examples. But there are modern examples that draw inspiration from that style, as Tin Man and LoTR have reminded me.

So, instead looking at "when" a movie was made (or if it was crappy or not), I imagine I will make the distinction, for my own benefit, if the movie features a example of art nouveau that is from the period it was in style (such as the examples found in Deep Red and Judex) and those examples which were specifically made with the film in mind for the purpose of set design or film props (as is the case for Tin Man and LotR).

I plan on going through a bunch of old French and Italian movies over the winter, so I might get lucky in finding more examples then.

 

[MB5]

Art Nouveau is the prevailing style in Disney's Enchanted and you can see some Art Nouveau elements in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather.