What Trauner Did Next

Abstract

Alexandre Trauner is remembered for his highly evocative `poetic realist' designs in films such as Le Quai des brumes (1938), Hôtel du Nord (1938), Le Jour se lève (1939) and Les Enfants du paradis (1945). His designs intertwined familiar iconography with stylistic accentuation so that the decor became the narrative's organising image. This article will concentrate on three of Trauner's American films: Othello (1952), Land of the Pharaohs (1955) and The Apartment (1960). It will identify the consonances between Trauner's work in 1930s France and 1950s America and argue that his design methodology seamlessly adapted to a different set of professional imperatives, which in turn allowed a fuller development of the `poetic realist' style. The `Trauner style' — cultivated in France and refined in America — revolves around three recurring aspects: visual symbolism, the interplay between monumental and intimate, and the decor paraphrasing the narrative.