Gnomon

At the age of 5, Claude Villette, the son of a clockmaker living in a small village near Paris, visited the city for the first time. The 1889 World Exhibition had just begun and across France the newest marvel of the country’s capital was the main point of conversation. Upon seeing the tower, Claude became enraptured by the beauty of the colossal iron filigree. With serendipity the boy and his father crossed paths with Eiffel himself, who told young Claude to chase dreams of monumental size.

65 years later, Claude looks back over a successful life of work as a clockmaker. In his decades of practice, he developed the small business his father had left him into an empire of luxury time pieces. When a colleague approaches Claude about the acquisition of a grandfather clock which had once belonged to Gustave Eiffel, he makes the purchase immediately. While servicing the clock, Claude discovers a collection of Eiffel’s plans which showed his tower not as a standalone structure, but instead as the gnomon of a massive sun dial. Remembering the words of his hero, Claude is determined to actualize this monumental dream.

Directed by Pierre Levent, 2005.