Constructing freestone buildings on the cheap, Pouillon made a name for himself at the end of the 1940s in Aix-en-Provence and Marseille, shaking up his peers who only dreamed of towers and concrete bars. In Algiers, until Independence, he built in record time thousands of homes for the poorest, real urban projects inspired by traditional forms. In the Paris region, to build comfortable buildings quickly and well, nestled in the greenery, he becomes a promoter: this too adventurous bet leads him to prison and retains his reputation. Not very explicit about this complex affair, but seduced by a contemporary architecture that combines technical inventiveness and ancient references, Christian Meunier films by multiplying the angles of view. Today's lively atmospheres are interspersed with archive footage, while Pouillon's writings are read off. Moved, his collaborators evoke a demanding and generous man, with an infectious passion.
Christian Meunier
Writer, Director

Fernand Pouillon
Self (archive footage)

Jean-Jacques Deluz
Architect
Rachid Fehri
Self
Jean Lucien Bonillo
Architect
Jean-Pierre Siame
Architect
Jean-Marie Chevallier
Self
Jean Chenivesse
Self
Jacques Chanaud
Self
François Chaslin
Self
In the Realms of the Unreal71%
McQueen74%
Daguerréotypes73%
Le Bus : Les Bleus en grève68%
Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition86%
Sidney70%
Lionel Messi: Destiny78%
12 jours71%
The Class of ‘9271%
Stop Making Sense83%
Bad 2572%
À propos de Nice68%
Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me84%
Audrey71%
The Carter Effect70%
Everybody’s Everything84%
Directed by John Ford70%
Above Majestic73%
Adele One Night Only78%
Le Joli Mai80%