In a public interview, director Mary McGuckian speaks with Shane O'Toole of DoCoMoMo Ireland about her soon-to-be-released film, "The Price of Desire," a biopic about the influential Irish modernist Eileen Gray - narrated from the perspective of Le Corbusier, no less. McGuckian explains how the film and the extensive research behind it went far beyond the usual remit of a biopic. Indeed, not only did it spawn an accompanying documentary ("Gray Matters", directed by Marco Orsini) and book, it even played a pivotal role in the restoration of E1027, Gray's seminal house design, to a point where it was possible to film on location.
McGuckian explains how the film deals with "the universal female experience, particularly for creative women... the lifetime experience of Eileen Gray was a combination of the time she lived in, the personality she was, and for want of a better expression, insidious chauvinism." The film casts Le Corbusier as Gray's rival, who defaced E1027 with his infamous murals, but also uses a little cinematic license to present him as the admirer who tells "the story, from his point of view, of how Eileen Gray came to be the most important, inspirational and innovative architect of their generation, and gives her back the right to be recognized for that work."
