There’s a tinge of humor, too, in Zumthor’s stubbornness when designing someone’s home, as the conceptual clashes with the preferential. However, the architect eventually gives way to use and function first, despite valuing the aesthetics at hand (not to mention, his collaborations with local artisans). It isn’t long before Wenders introduces the idea that Zumthor’s spaces are only as important as what goes inside them, when he first contrasts old and contemporary footage of museums he designed, each filled with deeply personal art installations — some of them about war.
Zumthor himself doesn’t have the most interesting personal history — at least, not as far as this film is concerned — so Wenders’ exploration can come off as superficial at first. However, this ends up part and parcel of the structure. It echoes the feeling of approaching a marvelous building from afar, and entering its sterile lobby, before slowly discovering its mischievous secrets.
Although some scenes and enactments can meander, they give way to a moving triptych of projects whose presentation feels, in a way, climactic. One is a home deeply personal to Zumthor. Another is a Nordic installation built in tribute to women killed in witch trials, which feels terrifying to walk through — a kind of infinitude accentuated by Franz Lustig’s 3D cinematography. And the third is arguably Zumthor’s magnum opus: his sprawling, amoebic construction housing the permanent collection at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, whose planning and completion the doc depicts in detail.
By the time the building is finished (and visited by a number of filmmakers, including Ava DuVernay and Werner Herzog), Wenders’ camera moves in tandem with Zumthor’s own abstract notions of the art pieces needing to feel horizontally equal, with none being granted more or less importance than any other. The sprawling gallery seems to have no beginning or end. Its bends extend endlessly, revealing pockets and side rooms with rough, exposed concrete contrasting the gilded grandeur of the pieces on display.
