THEApril 15 three years makes the cathedral of Notre Dame of Paris was devastated by a fire flared up inside. The world and the Parisians for a few long hours thought the worst. Then, thanks to the intervention of the firefighters, the monument was partially saved, and is now embraced by the scaffolding that will restore it to its former glory.
Jean-Jaques Annaud in his film Notre Dame on fire (tonight on Sky Cinema at 9.15 pm and streaming on Now) tells through archive images, collected from thousands of videos shot that day, and fiction, how it was tamed that fire. Heroes of the film are the firefighters.
Notre Dame on fire: the plot
It is 6.15 pm on April 15, 2019Mass is taking place on Monday when the alarm sounds fire at Notre Dame. We think of the usual false alarm: the system has been in need of maintenance for some time. However, smoke begins to come out of the roof of the cathedral and the firefighters receive the first phone calls, even if the French were not prompt in reporting the fact: they didn’t believe that smoke actually came from their cathedral.
Firefighters rush to the scene. But they take a long time, on their way crowds of tourists and citizens photographing the symbol in flames prevent him from advancing. From that moment the director de The Name of The rose focuses on the intervention of the fire brigade and on the recovery of the relics to be saved, especially on the safety of the crown of thorns of Jesus. Meanwhile, the fire is raging relentlessly: the goal is to prevent it propagate on the bell towers. It would be the end.
It seems like a mission impossible. The temperature is 1200 degrees, the central spire collapses while the media from all over the world observe the fate of the cathedral live. The French photograph e they begin to pray. There remains a single solution: a group of volunteers trying to save the symbol of Paris. But a cathedral can always be rebuilt, the life of a firefighter and a destroyed family cannot. Notre Dame will be saved, you will see how.
A scene from “Notre Dame in flames” on Sky. (Photo Mickael Lefevre)
A film between thriller and documentary
Notre Dame on fire mix gender documentary to thriller. Jean-Jaques Annaud likes to experiment, as he did when he brought the novel to the big screen from Umberto Eco: before then a thriller set in the Middle Ages and in a monastery had never been made.
A scene from the film by Jean Jacques Annoud. (Photo Mickael Lefevre)
In his new work the director collects the videos shot that day, he grafted them on the story of a real fact and on scenes shot ad hoc in various churches similar to Notre Dame: thefire and suspense spread in unison in the sacred place. And here it is as if an Aeschylus tragedy or a film by Hitchcock, in which a fragile creature is threatened by a demon who has the features of fire.
Notre Dame on fire between reconstructions and digital
Jean-Jacques Annaud couldn’t turn to Notre Dame so he went to look around France for churches that had similar characteristics to the Parisian temple, such as the cathedral of Bruges and those of Saint Denis and Sens.
For the fire scenes, the north transept and the gallery were reconstructed in real size, then they were set on fire for the shooting of the scenes with the firefighters. To make the film more realistic, the director called in experts in medieval restoration and architecture and around 200 carpenters and carpenters. And then clearly, in the modern era, some digital interventions could not be missing. The result is compelling.
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