A time machine disguised as a documentary, minus the plagues and wars they forgot to mention.
Featuring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Diana Vreeland, La Belle Epoque evokes "the beautiful era" of 1890-1914, a time in which the wealthy upper classes of the Western world gave themselves over to a life of elegance and taste-making, their eyes closed to the increasing social and political turmoil fermenting beneath the surface of polite society. The program uses period motion pictures, photographs, and sound recordings, as well as the arts and fashions of the period to supplement the spoken memories of the participating interviewees who actually lived... La Belle Epoque.
Production
Rare archival footage that actually survived two world wars.
Costume
The fashion alone will ruin modern clothes for you.
Director
Jim Burroughs
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Erté appears here in one of his rare on-camera interviews; he was 91 and still sketching daily.
The film's dreamy tone deliberately mirrors how its subjects remembered the era—everyone interviewed was wealthy enough to miss it.
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