Eiffel

  25th May 18:30 - Live at Cheltenham Playhouse

Paris 1886. Romain Duris stars as Gustave Eiffel in this period piece, ‘freely inspired by real facts’, that uses a largely fictional love story to explain how the French star engineer, at the height of his fame, overcame his reluctance to build a ‘temporary’ tower for the upcoming Paris World's Fair. Scandalising the bien pensants of the day, It was by far the tallest man-made structure in the world on completion, and held that title for more than 40 years. The A-shaped tower, or so the story goes in this lavishly decorated film, is a romantic tribute to Eiffel's teenage sweetheart, Adrienne Bourgès, whom he meets again in a chance encounter. Bourgès is played by Anglo-French Emma Mackey, who had her breakthrough with Netflix's Sex Education series (2019 to date) and recently starred in Branagh's Death on the Nile (2022). Duris, as Eiffel in love, is a pleasure to watch in this glossy and exciting big-budget romance.