E.1027 - Eileen Gray and the House by the Sea

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With her first feature-length film, co-directed by the experienced architecture specialist Christoph Schaub, the 45-year-old Zurich director Beatrice Minger delivers a small masterpiece. Her docufiction tells the story of the house E.1027, which the Irish designer Eileen Gray and the architectural theorist Jean Badovici built close to Monaco in 1929. The house, clinging to the inhospitable rocky coast, was intended as a light and airy retreat for Gray and her then-lover Badovici, who was a champion of the young Le Corbusier. But in 1931 Gray left the house for good and signed it over to her 15-year-younger lover, because she was annoyed by his fuss and constant activity around it. Only after she had moved out did Le Corbusier, glowing with admiration and envy, discover Gray's elegant design, and a few years later the star architect painted its interior walls with colourful frescoes. Grey only found out about the defacement in 1946 and demanded its removal in vain. So is this another case of male arrogance and overreach? Unfortunately yes. Minger & Schaub stage it with three actors, whose statements and thoughts are mostly overdubbed with original documents. They suggest Gray's second retreat in the hills of Menton with a stage set, weaving contemporary testimony into the plot. The stylisation initially seems academic, but thanks to the playful implementation and the striking documents, it develops a peculiar charm, to which a feather-light jazz score (Peter Scherer) contributes. The wordless finale, which summarises the subsequent history of the house, is a highlight of atmospherically dense editing. Incidentally, the riverside path that passes Gray's house is still named after Le Corbusier to this day because of a simple log cabin he built around the corner.