apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Thanks for this posts, Mark! This is really interesting and helpful to those of us who are don't have such an intuitive grasp of colors, design, etc., but are trying to learn.

Can somebody identify those chairs at the dining table in the top photo?

I love this post too - besides being an architect and the interests that entails, I'm a huge film buff and interiors in films is always among my top criteria of whether or not I like the film -i could write a book about interiors from film! keep these coming!

It's interesting in "Rear Window" how Hitchcock plays off the glamourous, colorful Grace Kelly character against the practical, earthy James Stewart character. He does this with color as well as dialog and action. At first, the conflict seems a typical battle of the sexes, but as the movie unfolds, the roles blur--I can't remember if the color palettes change, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did.

Maybe it is time for me to rent "Interiors." Thanks to a post here, I rented "Butterfield 8," which was a terrible film with incredible set and lighting design.

jeffery, yes the roles blur as stewart's character can't get out of the apartment. his apartment is lowkey because the world outside the window is our focus. we, the audience, are spying on stewart and friends spying on the neighbors.
as for interiors, my favoite scenes are with maureen stapleton as the family meets her and the wedding at the beach house. more greys at the beach house. igmar bergman's infuence on woody is evident in this film.
thanks for the post.

Brno Flat chair which was designed by van der Rohe in the '30s. It is super expensive but definitely makes a statement for a dining room.

They even have it at the ubiquitous DWR:

http://www.dwr.com/productdetail.cfm?id=7380

Thank you for this post! I just ordered a copy of Interiors. Would love to see a similar analysis of Fanny and Alexander. Maybe I'll do one myself.

Thanks for a lovely critique! It's been so long since I found like-minded people who are able to juxtapose colours and imagery across films.

For a colour throwback, you should rent the Chinese films by acclaimed director, Zhang Yimou --"Raise the Red Lantern" and "JuDou". Both star his previous protege, Gong Li (before she went on to endorse L'Oreal haircolour). But v cunning use of colour and both standout films.

Another I would recommend are the "Trois Coleurs" trilogy by Krzysztof Kieslowski. Excellent soundtrack by Zbgeniew Preisner.
"Bleu" stars Juliette Binoche, "Blanc" has Julie Delpy and "Rouge" has Irene Jacob in it.

My dear, talented and esteemed friend, I must add one crucial point to your very adept reading of Rear Window. While the paint on the walls might be neutral and while it's safe to say Grace Kelly wearing Edith Head would certainly stand out in startling contrast anywhere at all, there was plenty of color in those apartments. But it came from the brilliantly orchestrated "daylight" reflected from the "sky" across the courtyard. As he did in 1948 in "Rope", Hitchcock dramatises the (confined, wheelchair-bound) space by showing the very visceral passage of time. You can almost smell 9th street, expecially after it rained. Along with Stewart's and Thelma Ritter's garb (she wears medium-brown in other scenes)that room serves as a great backdrop. I have to agree about the place being unkempt. Beside his own photographs, I've often wondered at the place being so full of junk. (Note that anti-tableau of bad artworks and that terrible candlestick on the mantle.)
The chairs in the "Interiors" dining room are Mies van Der Rohe's "Brno" chair designed for his Tugendhat House of 1930 in Brno.

I do love Rear Window and now must see Interiors. I'm taking notes on the other films mentioned that I haven't seen. I love clue-ins to movies with great interiors as well as discussions on how interiors add to the films.

Purists may prefer Ingmar Bergman to Woody Allen rip-offs of Bergman, but I'm no Bergman purist, and have always *adored* Interiors since I first saw it in high school. (Plus, those 'seventies updos!! love em...) I seem to remember that the house is on the beach, and the grisaille effect inside is tied, I think, to the film's wintry, scandinavian, grey seashore exterior. If one likes these tones, one could find further inspiration within books and magazines about northern coastlines... Maine, Bretagne, and Scandinavia.

(Thanks, Mark, for yet another inspiring and thought-provoking column!)

My word Mark, looks like your film therapy column is a hit! Congrats to "Hue". love L.

Anybody remember Pauline Kael's review of "Interiors"? She said something like "...it has the deepest surface of any film I've ever seen."


Meow, hiss!

Mark, this is a great post. My new favorite. Thanks.

Oh, man, I still miss Pauline Kael.

I was inspired by this to sign up for Netflix and put Interiors and other films on my queue. I recently got rid of my tv, so this is a small foray back into very selective home entertainment on my laptop.

I've never liked Interiors much but I've watched it several times, for the decor alone. Esp that Hamptons house (wasn't it the Hamptons?). There should be a list of movies saved by the set decorator. I know I'll end up going to that new movie Holiday because the sets are supposed to be great.

forget the grey walls -- I want Grace Kelly's wardrobe.

"Grey is the cardboard color of a West Village studio--lived-in and worked-in and completely unselfconscious."

Congratulations, you've just described my apartment.

I now have a name for my style: "Rear Window Modern."

'Interiors' is far from my favorite woody film, but that's only because he's made so many other films I love. It has many wonderful and upsetting moments. I knew Mel Bourne, the production designer (R.I.P.), who was one of the best there ever was. I would love to show 'Interiors' at the sundance film festival, with the credits removed and see how it plays to those who don't know its a woody allen film.

Wow - Dear Free - tell us more, Mel Bourne et al. I love learning how they did it. How Bourne & Hal Periera and even Cedric Gibbons were so clued in to the minutiae of such varied personas as the characters whose sets they dressed. I oughta write a book.

Mark,

Please feel free to write longer pieces for the color therapy posts or the color therapy in film posts. The ideas are great; the comments are great.

How about a film for everyone to watch and comment on? Like book club, but with movies? Or two films in one month for compare/contrast?

Just a thought.

Interiors is seriously the only Woody Allen film i can stand. It's a gorgeous film.
Thank you for this post. I've been doing similar studies on my own. Nice for discussion.

OH, i should add, i have gray rooms in my apartment, and I've used Lowes' American Tradition in SMOKE. Pretty economical, really great color. Its the best neutral.

I used Sico's "pluie glaciale" for my newly painted grey bedroom and I really like it:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2091/2042145673_0c63e8b20b.jpg

great post, i'm wrestling with grey for my bedroom.

The loft in Interiors, also designed by Eve, for her daughter and her husband (Sam Waterston) is one my my favorite rooms anywhere. She made their home much warmer, and it suits them.
My wife and I saw Interiors when we were in college, and it made me want that place or something like it, for us, someday...
Amazing but true. We saw Annie Hall on our first date, and we're still together!

Have not seen Interiors but have seen Rear Window lots of time since first seeing it in 1994, or was it 1995 while in a video program. it was shown during class one day and I was floored, not just by Jimmie Stewart's apartment, but the entire storyline and entire set. Wow. Some of the best sets made that I know of for that time period.

I'm a sucker for interior shots too and I also tend to notice not only the colors used, but the furniture, lamps and all that too. I love the general look of LB Jefferies apartment and can in my mind visualize it's layout and love what is in there, the audio cabinet near the front door, the bathroom off to one side of the fireplace, the bed by the windows, the low radiators, the hanging pleated lamp and the rest. I like how the lamps are used to good effect here and yes, the neutral pallet used in the apartment is great. I like that the entire courtyard is from a working class neighborhood where the people, with the exception of grace kelly and "miss Lonely hearts" tend to wear clothing that isn't necessarily stylish but presentable and conservative.

I would love to see Jefferie's kitchen and have often tried to figure out the flats across the way, especially the newer constructed building where lonley hearts and the thorwalds live.

Another film that I enjoyed is the "Marriage go 'round" (1960 or so) and it's strictly for the house that the movie mostly is set in. An early 60's modern home, possibly in the LA hills and saw it on cable about 15 years ago and spent literally the entire film figuring out the floor plan of the house.

My thoughts on neutrals in general, they do have their place but when they are the primary (or the only) color of choice, they can be considered safe choices when someone can't decide or is afraid of using color for whatever reason but it can connote a colorless existance, meaning that any personality appears to have been drained from the room but add some color, even as an accent, the room takes on a personality of its own.

Hitchcock was a master at creating the look he wanted for his movies and Rear Window is a shining example of that with real sets, no flats so the way the scenes were shot, it looks as if he was shooting at a real location when it was all in the studio. Very well done film and I love is use of lighting, the sun at all times of the day and what have you to simulate life day by day as the film unfolds and how it all plays with the light inside the apartment, the night scenes where the interior lamkps are providing the light. The story itself is fabulous and all the major rolls were well cast. Long live Thelma Ritter. She was a class act.

I thought grisaille referred specifically to the painting of a mural in gray-on-gray tones, not just a monochromatic interior.

And dear god, ANY room with Grace Kelly in THAT DRESS is memorable! Gor. Geous. She'd STILL get "Best Dressed" in that on any recent Oscar red carpet throwdown.

(to clarify, that *is* grisaille in that pic of her dining room)

Great post! And what a coincidence! I am doing a series of posts for great interiors in films, inspired by the 48th Thessaloniki International Film Festival http://www.filmfestival.gr/ now taking place in my home city. I already had Rear Window shortlisted for one post and now you made me want to do Interiors too! Great inspiration, thanks!