There are two approaches to films about architecture: in some the focus is a key building and in others it is the architect, their interests and ambitions, their successes and failures.
Aalto, which explores the life and heritage of the great northern modernist, offers a third approach.
Design is sacred for Scandinavians. In Sweden’s Nationalmuseum, Rembrandt is exhibited on the second floor and on the first floor are exceptional household objects.
This film features the same sacred trepidation. The camera takes a bird’s eye view of Alvar Aalto’s villas and libraries, his cult chairs are filmed from every angle in slow motion. Directed by Aalto’s countrywoman, the Finnish documentary maker Virpi Suutari, this calm and measured film charms with its painstaking archival research. Of particular interest are the carefully selected documentary shots, the most engaging of which are linked to the architect’s family: they travel to America, take boat trips, design buildings and furniture.
The film will be screened in German, Italian, French, Finnish and English with Russian subtitles.
Aalto
Director Virpi Suutari
Finland, 2020, 103 min. 18+