The Cut
Es Devlin
DesignerWe talk to one of the world’s leading stage designers, who reveals the films that matter to her and how they have inspired her work. Es has collaborated with musicians including Kanye West, Beyoncé and Adele and institutions such as the Royal Opera House and the Barbican, and has created art installations at the Serpentine Gallery and the V&A Museum.
Es Devlin /
BFI Player film picks
Nymphomaniac Vol. INymphomaniac Vol. I
Drama 2013 118 minsDirector: Lars von Trier
Volume 1 of Lars von Trier’s explicit, controversial film about a woman recounting the history of her sexuality in episodic style.
OrphéeOrphée
Drama 1950 96 minsDirector: Jean Cocteau
Magical retelling of the Orpheus myth by poet, playwright, artist and filmmaker Jean Cocteau.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless MindEternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Drama 2004 103 minsDirector: Michel Gondry
Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet play the couple who fall in love so quickly it seems they must have known each other in a past life ... only to discover they did.
RoomRoom
Thriller 2016 118 minsDirector: Lenny Abrahamson
Brie Larson’s Oscar-winning performance is the beating heart of Lenny Abrahamson’s extraordinarily moving drama.
Nymphomaniac Vol. IINymphomaniac Vol. II
Drama 2013 124 minsDirector: Lars von Trier
Volume 2 of Lars von Trier’s explicit, controversial film about a woman recounting the history of her sexuality in episodic style.
Es Devlin /
how films inspire her
Es Devlin /
how films inspire her
Es Devlin /
how films inspire her
How I create
Es explains how her ideas turn into the finished article, with the featured image showing the vivid set from Lucy Kirkwood’s Chimerica (Almeida, 2013).
Es Devlin /
how films inspire her
Praise the Lorde
Shimmering greens and soothing blues create a breathtaking backdrop to Lorde’s memorable dreampop at the world’s greatest music festivals (Coachella and Glastonbury, 2017).
Es Devlin /
how films inspire her
'I want to be part of the conversation around film - not just imbibing it and moving on to cook my dinner.'
Es Devlin /
how films inspire her
Beauty and the ballet
Alastair Marriott’s sublime Connectome (Royal Ballet, 2014) is complemented by Es’s compelling stage design with the graceful movements of the company’s dancers echoed in the careful, sharp lines of the set.
Es Devlin /
how films inspire her
Es Devlin /
how films inspire her
Let there be light
Childhood experiments with light reap benefits for Es’s later creativity. An image of her striking set from Julie Taymor's A Midsummer Night’s Dream (New York, 2013) is featured.
Es Devlin /
how films inspire her
'It’s the sense of an entirety of human activity overlaid and happening within one contained frame. It’s infiltrated all my work since.'
Es on Tango
Es Devlin /
on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Es Devlin /
on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
'So many films about disruption are expressions of our cultural state of mind.'
Es Devlin /
on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Es Devlin /
on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Appetite for destruction
Using the carnage within Eternal Sunshine... as a jumping off point, Es discusses how destruction and anarchy within her work, theatre and pop music can be an important and influential force.
Es Devlin /
on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Es Devlin /
on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
My stand-out scene
Es describes her stand-out scene, in which a key character’s memories are erased and the chaos of an unravelling mind are writ large in extraordinary detail on screen.
Es Devlin /
on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Design inspired by the film #1
Influenced by Eternal Sunshine’s cataclysmic mise-en-scene, Es’s sets and costumes for A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Hamburg State Opera, 2006) were a key reason for the show’s five-star reviews.
Es Devlin /
on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Es Devlin /
on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Thanks for the memories
This clip of Es’s favourite scene from Michel Gondry’s non-rom-com about breaking up and the nature of memory is as impressive and inventive as anything in the idiosyncratic French director’s distinctive canon. Contains mild bad language.
Es Devlin /
on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Design inspired by the film #2
Complicite’s The Master and Margarita was described as “extraordinary and thrilling” during its stint at the Barbican in 2012. Es’s haunting designs ensured all who saw the production were impressed by the show’s remarkable look and feel.
Es Devlin /
on Room
Es Devlin /
on Room
Es Devlin /
on Room
What Room means to me
Lenny Abrahamson’s award-winning drama is a moving and suspenseful adaptation of Emma Donoghue’s novel. Es explains her emotional response to the film, which won Brie Larson a Best Actress Oscar.
Es Devlin /
on Room
Es Devlin /
on Room
Working without much Room
Whether by art or design, Es’s BFI IMAX film with Nitin Sawhney (pictured) has a Room-inspired feel. She talks about the logistics and challenges of producing work in a tightly controlled space.
Es Devlin /
on Room
Es Devlin /
on Room
My favourite scene
Es details a devastating scene in Room and why it’s the best part of the whole feature. If you haven’t seen the film yet, beware – Es’s heartfelt response contains major spoilers.
Es Devlin /
on Room
Working on water
Es’s innovative and eye-catching set design for the Bregenz Festival staging of Georges Bizet’s Carmen is a superb re-imagining of the French composer’s original vision. The work is a notable example of Es working within a completely different spacial environment with its own restrictions..
Es Devlin /
on Room
Es Devlin /
on Room
Room without a view
Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay appear in Es’s favourite scene, a quiet, considered vignette that provokes the kind of serious contemplation it so acutely depicts. Again, contains major spoilers.
Es Devlin /
on Room
Design on a grand scale
A powerful and unique blend of audience-led functionality and design acuity led Es to produce a remarkable set for Adele’s sell-out Radio City show in New York. The strength and boldness perfectly suits the south London singer’s huge voice and charisma while displaying Es’s strength in creating work for a large arena setting.
Es Devlin /
on Orphée
Es Devlin /
on Orphée
Es Devlin /
on Orphée
Discovering a Jean Cocteau classic
Es explains how working on Philip Glass’s opera version of Orphée in 2005 led to her enchantment with Jean Cocteau’s magic realist French masterpiece.
Es Devlin /
on Orphée
Orphée influence #2: Mirror Maze
Es’s stunning art installation in Copeland Park, Peckham was installed only a few miles from her studio but had a vital, universal feeling of light and optimism, inspired in part by Orphée.
Es Devlin /
on Orphée
Es Devlin /
on Orphée
Mirrors in Orphée and Es’s work
Mirrors form a key part of her work. Here the designer considers how and why they are important and their role in Orphée.
Es Devlin /
on Orphée
Orphée influence #1: Room 2022
Es’s large scale installation at the Miami Edition hotel, during Art Basel, was a meditation on architecture as social structure. It began within the confined space of a hotel room and expanded into infinite mirrored sculpture: both Orphée and Room influenced the thinking behind the work.
The Cut is co-funded with the Creative Europe programme of the European Union
