If you enjoy watching documentaries about art, this one is definitely for you. It really ranks in the A-list in every department it examines, in the present case biography (the larger-than-life artist, as evidenced by the several members of the Lalique family interviewed here, was also a man of flesh and blood with his strong and weak points), general history (René Lalique's long life spanned three wars across eight decades and a half), and naturally history of art (Lalique went through three major artistic trends of art and decorative art, namely academic art, art nouveau and art déco and established himself as an influential figure from 1900 to his death in 1945). Through archive photographs and filmed sequences, the interviews mentioned above, the display of numerous pieces filmed in various museums, you will know everything (or at least everything essential) about the great man, his wonderful art, his amazing evolution from jeweler to interior decorator (fittings of carriages of the Orient Express; of the dining room and "grand salon" of the SS Normandie) to glass designer (creating objets d'art in glass as varied as perfume bottles, vases, jewels, chandeliers, clocks and automobile hood ornaments, to say nothing about the reredos, columns, stained glass windows, church windows he designed for churches and chapels, both in France and in Jersey).
Alexie Lorca and Claude Théret manage to maintain interest throughout, skilfully balancing views featuring the fabulous production of the artist, sequences about his private life, the whole thing being interspersed with segments of the auction sale of a vase by Lalique for which bidding is particularly intense.
Supposing you knew nothing about René Lalique before viewing this excellent documentary, your single desire will then be to discover his works with your own eyes, why not at the superb museum of Wingen-sur-Moder, in Alsace, entirely devoted to the artist. Otherwise, your admiration for "the man of glass" will simply be reinforced.
