ABSTRACT
As a powerful tool for education, popularization, and criticism, postwar non-fiction cinema has often intertwined with architecture and urban planning, directly involving architects and planners as experts, commissioners, or protagonists in what could be called “architectural documentary.” In a time of major changes for European cities, the architect became a key public figure. Based on a comparison between French and Italian examples of such architectural documentaries, this chapter aims at analyzing the cinematographic representation of the architectural and urban renovation and of the architects themselves. “Deconstructing” the architects’ images allows to articulate the layers and transitions of the public discourses around architecture, while highlighting the role that cinema played in shaping these perceptions, swinging between celebration and criticism.
