The Bridge

A person necessarily encounters a radical change at least once in his life. These changes usually require a certain period and indeed a binding bridge to occur. The bridge helps us adapt to change and prepares us for a new process. Here, I questioned the meaning of the bridge in the scene I added below of the movie Mon Oncle shot in 1958.

Here, we observe the connection established between a past that has been consumed and spent and a modern future. In fact, it is clearly observed that the transition is very sharp and a bridge or a connection point is not used. It is almost a door opening from a traditional and habitual world to the future and the unknown. Actually, the movie touches on this point. In the movie, we observe the neighborhood where a man spent his whole life, the good human relations of the people living in this district, and the daily life of the man here.

The man lives on the last floor of a rather dilapidated house. I think that this ruined house has undergone a lot of changes over time and maybe even consists of a combination of three separate buildings. There is a huge circulation problem in the building. To go to his house, which is located on the last floor and in the left corner of the building, he has to enter from the bottom right of the building, turn left and right, sometimes go up and sometimes down. It is inevitable that he will encounter a woman who comes out of the bathroom on this long journey. However, despite all this difficult journey, the fact that the man is happy and does not complain about it indicates that he is at peace here. This house was on the side of the bridge where we stood. Across the bridge, we are a guest of a house that is a product of modernism.

This house is a complete alien compared to traditional houses. The general form and exterior of the house, which has modern architecture, consists of simple geometries. Any unnecessary embellishments and details were avoided. The interior design is also designed in a harmony with the exterior design. Furniture in interior design has a very simple design. Also, the staircase design is designed to give maximum functionality with minimum details. However, when we observe the attitudes of the people living here, we see that they have a perfectionist attitude. Homeowners attach great importance to keeping everything in order at home, and they do it as a show-off. In fact, even a chair that is useless and not suitable for human ergonomics stands in the most beautiful corner of the living room, just because it has a modern design and is compatible with the home. In addition, the decision of each step to be taken in landscape design was made by placing stones. But this that although they can go the way in one step when acted with anxiety about perfectionism and followed by stones, it causes much more steps to be covered.

All in all, the movie simply wanted to present a critical perspective between traditional homes and life there and life in the modern world. With this critical film, we who have the modern lives of today’s world, allow us to stop and think in a minute.

This essay is previously submitted as homework Architectural History and Theory III course in Abdullah Gul University, instructor Ahmet Erdem Tozoğlu.