THE STORY – Wim Wenders explores the work and philosophy of Pritzker Prize-winning Swiss architect Peter Zumthor in an immersive documentary about the powerful relationship between people and the places they visit, work in or inhabit. Filmed over more than fourteen years and captured through cuttingedge 3D cinematography, the film invites audiences to experience Zumthor’s architectural creations through the eyes of visitors, users, inhabitants or craftspeople – allowing them to walk through these spaces themselves.
THE CAST – Peter Zumthor, Anna Trauffer, Carin Caduff, Tarek Atoui, Karl Schlögel, Suzanne Ziellenbach, David Regehr, Aoi Yamada, Siri Hustvedt, Michael Govan, Pedro Reyes, Reiko Sudo, Mark Bradford, Ava DuVernay, Mariana Castillo Deball, Mark Oliver Everett, Ever Anderson, Tallulah Jane Jones Keeler, Lena Herzog, Werner Herzog & Sophie Hunger
THE TEAM – Wim Wenders (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 114 Minutes
Architects have long been a source of inspiration for filmmakers, almost since cinema began, spawning features from the Bela Lugosi vehicle “The Black Cat” to “The Brutalist.” However, real-life architects have also been the subject of documentaries, with Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Kahn both being put under the microscope. Now it’s the turn of a contemporary Swiss architect in Wim Wender’s latest feature “From Inside Out – The Architecture of Peter Zumthor.” He is not a household name or a starchitect like Herzog and de Meuron (his fellow countrymen), Zaha Hadid or Renzo Piano, whose names are almost as renowned as their buildings. Amongst the cognoscenti, though, he is considered a master. Yet he is also a teacher and a craftsman (he used to be a furniture maker and still makes all the furniture for his own homes). He is meticulous and slow-paced, so it comes as no surprise that this collaboration between the architect and the director was around 14 years in the making.
Wenders, whose previous film was the highly acclaimed “Perfect Days,” is no stranger to documentaries, with works including “Anselm” about the artist Anselm Kiefer and “Pina” about the choreographer Pina Bausch, both filmed in 3D. This is also the case with this film, and it is used to decent effect to enter the spaces created by its subject. I am not entirely convinced that it is necessary. Despite being able to experience the environments almost as we would in real life, 3D only enhances the experience to an extent and can even be distracting.
The characters who appear throughout the film are another issue: there’s a whimsical dancing tourist in a mountain rest area, two students at the Terme di Vals, a researcher in a remote mountain home. There are some cameos, too: Siri Hustvedt visits Zumthor’s astounding monument to women executed for being witches, while Werner Herzog and his wife wax lyrical about LA from one of Zumthor’s most recent buildings. And so on. Zumthor’s world seems populated with perfectly interesting characters, such as the couple who asked him to build their family home, and the traveling journeyman and his merry band of friends who helped them do it. There’s Tarek Atoui, the Lebanese artist installing a show in the Kunsthaus Bregenz. So why not hear more from them and the master craftsmen who contribute to each project? It would be more gratifying and less distracting. But it would be hard for something to distract you from Zumthor’s architecture: whether it’s the minimalist space of the Bruder Klaus Field Chapel or the extensive amoeba that is the LACMA building, his designs impress and awe.
Zumthor himself is as captivating as his architecture and is an articulate communicator of what his vision is. He is unafraid to adapt to circumstances, not allowing his ego to override his clients’ remits. The title of the film comes from his philosophy, that the building comes from the inside. First you create the space, then the windows and the interaction with the exterior. He states: “The building must always be friendly to its surroundings.” This connection to and respect for the places in which he builds is tantamount. He views his buildings as a “completion of a landscape which wasn’t finished before” and yet he is also keenly aware that we are here but briefly in terms of the planet’s lifespan. Although he says of space, “the more I think about it, the more mysterious it is to me,” he harnesses it and makes something magical out of it. There is beauty in everything, a meticulousness and a care. He mentions peace, quiet and depth: each of these elements are found in his creations, but Wenders shows that they also seem to be facets of this remarkable man’s personality.
Wenders has done us a service by bringing this architect’s life, work, and philosophy to a broader audience. As he did with his previous documentary subjects, he shows a reverence and respect for Zumthor. Just as the architect takes his time over a project, so Wenders takes time and care over this film. Despite the whimsy, this is a fascinating study of one of the world’s truly great architects.
