A survey of the representation of modern architecture in the cinema

Abstract

Modern architecture, a reaction to the industrialization of the 19th-century, is characterized by a lack of applied decoration, exposed structural members, materials kept in their natural state and “flat” roofs. It developed in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s, particularly in Germany, the Netherlands and France, and spread to the rest of the world after World War II. Depending on your point of view, Modern architecture can either be exciting and exhilarating or inhuman and oppressive. This article surveys these two opposite representations of Modern architecture in the cinema, beginning from its first appearance in the 1920s until today. Films directed by Marcel L’Herbier (The Inhuman Woman, 1924), Alfred Hitchcock (North by Northwest, 1959), Jacques Tati (Mon Oncle, 1958, and Playtime, 1967), Jean-Luc Godard (Contempt, 1963, Alphaville, 1965, and Two or Three Things I Know About Her, 1967), as well as several from the James Bond series (Dr. No [Terence Young, 1962], Goldfinger [Guy Hamilton, 1964], and Diamonds are Forever [Guy Hamilton, 1971]) are highlighted. Culminating in a survey of like-minded films since the 1980s, the article concludes that Modern architecture in the cinema is here to stay and will continue to play an integral role in the making of films.