Currently, many people in Switzerland spend a lot of time at home for well-known reasons. And little by little some of us are beginning to get bored. The magazines are all read, exciting books are just not at hand and the bookstores are closed and the cupboards have long since been tidied.

So archdaily, the English-language online magazine on architecture – which, by the way, can also be recommended elsewhere – is just in time with its latest article. It discusses seven films in which high cinematic art can best be combined with your interest in interior design. In these films the interiors and not the characters are the focus of several scenes.

In film “Parasite” by South Korean director Bong Joon Ho, who has won a total of four Oscars, a poor Korean family trickily nestles into the life of an upper class family. Architecture plays a leading role in this. The pitoyable living environment of one family contrasts sharply with the designer villa of the other; the strong images are symbolic of their living conditions – and at the same time they explain their behaviour in everyday life. archdaily writes in the article: “The opulent house of the Park family, with its refined materials, minimalist furniture, austere atmosphere, and wide garden is opposed to the dark image of the Kim’s house, a half buried eroded den, with only a single window on the street level.» The architecture of the two houses is used throughout the film as a visual means to support the plot. Watch the trailer here.

The Oscar-winning film “Birdman” by director Alejandro G. Iñárritu is characterised by images of a room. The story takes place almost exclusively in a theatre, which is directed by the main character Riggan. He has successfully played a superhero in earlier times and is now seeking the recognition of the audience and the critics again. Thereby he gets into a vortex of mental confusion. This gradually mixes with the theatre’s intricate labyrinths, whose rooms become increasingly narrow and claustrophobic. Watch the trailer here.

One of the greatest films of the last years is certainly “The Grand Budapest Hotel” by Wes Anderson. This work, which takes place almost exclusively in a hotel, shows the interior spaces in fascinating, perfectly symmetrical compositions. The rooms shown merge past and present, reality and fantasy. The interior of the Grand Budapest Hotel, with its lavish interiors, is the main element of the interwar history of the legendary concierge Gustave H. and the Lobby Boy Zero Moustafa, who becomes his most loyal friend. Watch the trailer here.

The film “The Sihining” by director Stanley Kubrick with the unforgettable Jack Nicholson in the leading role should also be mentioned in this context. Here, too, a luxurious hotel is at the centre of the plot and, similar to “Birdman”, the initially fascinating architecture is transformed into a labyrinth in the course of the plot, which gradually drives Jack Torrence crazy, who is supposed to look after the abandoned hotel with his family over the winter. Watch the trailer here.

Other films mentioned in the text are:

Be inspired by these films in which architecture and interior design play a leading role and enjoy your own home for a few relaxing or exciting hours. The films can all be downloaded on different channels.

You can find out more about home cinema in this article from Christie’s online magazine luxurydefined.