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Summary of Christo's Valley Curtain

The film, Christo's Valley Curtain, is a documentary directed by the Maysles brothers (with Ellen Giffard). This short documentary of just 28 minutes was published on March 10th, 1974 in the United States of America. The documentary centers around a multimedia artist named Christo as he works to fulfill one of his artistic visions, a vision involving an enormous, vivid orange curtain hanging between a mountain gap. In the documentary scenes, the filming crew often bounces between Christo's art studio and Christo's grand curtain project.

The film commences with two people, a male and a female (whom we later learn are Christo and his female companion), hanging a relatively large drawing of a vibrant orange curtain hanging between a mountainous landscape on the wall. The two sit at a distance from the art piece, conversing with each other in French, most likely about the nature of the artwork as they carefully examine it from across the room. The filming crew adjusts the frame and focuses on the drawing of the curtain as the male from the opening clip takes what appears to be an orange pastel to the art piece and goes to work, clarifying that he, Christo, is the artist, which is soon confirmed with his vocalization (spoken in English with a distinct French accent) of why he does the art he does. As he continues to speak, it becomes evident that he is no traditional artist for his large scale projects take place beyond his studio where he needs to consult engineers and construction workers to assist him to make his artistic visions a reality. In the studio, Christo does traditional artwork in preparation for his untraditional artwork outside his studio.

The film's title, Christo's Valley Curtain, makes it's grand appearance after Christo finishes touching upon what his does as an artist. The filming crew remains in the studio, though for a short time, and captures Christo as he at work on a black and white charcoal, photo-realistic drawing of another mountainous landscape, a blueprint for his real life curtain project. Soon, the scene shifts to a construction site on a mountain, the first glimpse of Christo's real world, artistic vision. Christo, his female companion, and an indefinite number of others (ten plus?) are filmed working and conversing together to make some sort of apparatus. The filming crew enlightens the viewer about the nature of this apparatus once the view of the scene is broadened. The scene is much like that of Christo's depiction of the mountains and the curtain. It is apparent that the task at hand is to make Christo's drawing a reality.

The scene shifts to a golfing location very near the set of mountains where the curtain project is taking place. On the golfing course, the golfers discuss the curtain. Some golfers are skeptical of the curtain, whereas others can only express interest in the completion of the project.

The scene soon shifts again to Christo in his studio. He is adding color to his black and white charcoal landscape. He begins to pencil in where the curtain is going to be in his drawing. Nearly as quick as the scene switched to Christo in his studio, the scene switched back to the construction site where, what can be assumed to be, western construction workers are working high up on a cable between the mountains, the cable which the curtain will hang from. Being on the cable that high is unquestionably dangerous. Christo expresses concern for his western assistants as they begin to maneuver on the cables.

The scene changes and Christo is in his studio again. This time, he is using a razor to cut, what can be inferred to be, the outline of his curtain. Once again, Christo's studio scene is followed by a speedy switch to the construction scene. This scene shows the ascension of the bound up curtain so that it may be connected to the cables. The western workers are troubled with the task of attaching the bundled up curtain to the cable. Everyone on the site is talking about how what adjustments need to be made in order to make sure the releasing of the curtain is a success.

Back at Christo's studio, Christo is cutting out orange fabric, much like the fabric seen in the depiction of curtain in the opening scene. Christo places the fabric he cut out atop his charcoal drawing. Then, the scene is back to the golf course where the golfers are chuckling at the lack of progress in the completion of the curtain project. Back at the site, it is learned that the lack of progress is due to one of Mother Nature's dangers: the wind.

In the following scene, Christo is back at the his studio. He is sliding the orange fabric he was cutting out earlier behind the parts of his picture that he removed with his razor. It is then understood that the fabric is to become part of his charcoal artwork.

Afterwards, the workers and Christo discuss whether or not to proceed in working on the curtain project. The final decision is to pull off the protective covering, and for the first time the orange curtain, though still wound up, is seen. The protective covering ends up getting stuck a little past half way down the line and the team is unsure what to do about it.

The scene then resorts back to Christo in his studio. He irons the curtain piece, which he cut out in an earlier scene, onto his charcoal artwork and begins to shade the curtain with his artist utensils in order to bring life and depth into the curtain. Subsequently, Christo is back at the construction site. There are some communication discrepancies between those on the cable and those on ground level which results in a two hour pause of progression. Finally, the team comes to a conclusion and the protective covering is completely off the bounded curtain. One of the western construction workers comes down and Christo expresses his gratitude for his worker's service by repeating the words "thank you" while embracing the worker.

In the upcoming scene, Christo is back inside. It is not clear if the location is in his studio. Anyways, in this scene, Christo is showing another man his artwork. He then shows the man a diorama of his curtain project. A fan is turned on behind the curtain as if to show the durability of the curtain against the wind.

The filming crew returns to the mountain. The workers are nervous, talking about the curtain. Suspense builds in anticipation of the curtain's release. Finally the time arrives. A worker unties the curtain and like a bullet the curtain starts cascading down the line but alas! Just as the hearts of all the engineers, construction workers, Christo, and his companion, fly with joy, the curtain gets stuck roughly two thirds down the line. The workers disperse and get to work in order to try to figure a way to free the rest of the curtain. Some of the construction workers slide on the cables in order to get to the point where the curtain got stuck. The curtain is soon freed, as announced by the cheering of the men and women at the construction site. The atmosphere is ecstatic. People are laughing and hugging, people of different ethnicities and backgrounds, at that. The cooperation of completing the artistic vision together is more important to those involved than cultural differences.

Back at the golf course, the golfers are marveling over the beauty of the vibrant orange curtain between the mountain gap. At a distance away from the curtain, Christo and his companion also take in the beauty of what they made, the beauty of Christo's vision made to life. The filming crew captures an areal view of the curtain from inside a helicopter. Meanwhile, everyone at the construction site is celebrating with wide smiles worn proudly upon their faces. The mission was a success. People all around the site are congratulating Christo, enthusiastically praising his artwork. The video concludes with one last look at the vivid orange curtain, Christo's vision. (Curtain)

Christo's Valley Curtain. Dir. Albert Maysles. Dir. David Maysles. The Maysles Brothers Inc.

1974. Film