The sets are stunning. Where were they filmed?
The sets in Brazil were designed to look like “the century was compacted into a single moment,” the style being eclectic. In order to create this sort of mood, Gilliam’s film was shot on-location at many locations in Europe. Sam’s apartment building actually existed in France, at the Marne la Vallee, a huge apartment complex designed by Ricardo Bofil. The truck chase, with Sam and Jill outrunning the security pursuit vans as well as shots of Sam walking home from the transporter station were filmed there. The site of Marne la Vallee is now the site of EuroDisney. Dr. Jaffe’s surgery room, where Ida Lowry receives her cosmetic treatment early in the film, was shot in Leighton’s House, the home of Lord Leighton. Leighton was a Victorian artist and collector of moorish tiles. The clerk’s pool where Sam works in the Records Department was shot in an abandoned grain mill in London’s Dockland. The mill was sprayed with gray paint, and flour sifters were turned into benches. This same locatio
