A series of unfortunate events
and characterized by sleek geometry and symmetry (Britannica, 2025). Art Deco is equated with glamour, luxury and elegance, perfectly reflecting the Squalors’ world. The building entrance was inspired by The Woolworth Building in New York, and Dark Avenue is a parody of the famous Park Avenue, both symbolic of capitalism, consumerism and high society. The set is visually stunning. The main living space has a black marble floor, with a huge accent zig-zag rug, two velvet chaise lounges, and two sets of leather pinstripe armchairs with a gold coffee table in the centre. The apartment seems to glow, as Bernard Couture (Director of Photography) uses sixteen to eighteen different light sources in this room, comprising candelabras, sconces, chandeliers and gold lamps. There is a fireplace on either side of the living room (an absurd design choice for the Squalors) and above each one is a golden wall sculpture, both pastiches of Rene Paul Chambellen’s architectural Art Deco sculptures. Panelling and railings fill this room and the whole house, each a different pattern, but all incredibly ornate. Every last room glimmers with gold, black and silver pinstripes and at least one chandelier: Welch makes their wealth undeniable and inescapable. While the set is not as angular as Welch’s previous episodes, there is still a sense of heightened perspective. Hallways seem to reach into an abyss, and ceilings stretch to infinity, emphasizing the ’71- room apartment’ (Handler, A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Ersatz Elevator , 2001), and the Squalors’ excessive opulence. Welch uses an array of luxurious texture in the apartment to add to its allure. Leather, gold, velvet, marble and glass all make the apartment sensorily enticing through the screen. By contrasting, the empty space in the set makes it dysfunctional, and while the apartment is gorgeous, it feels cold, as rooms, hallways and staircases are grander than they need to be. When the Baudelaires enter the apartment, they are amazed, but there is no real comforting quality to the penthouse, reflected in them getting ‘hopelessly lost’ in the many rooms. Previous residencies of the crumbling towers in ‘The Austere Academy’ and the rickety cliff-side home in ‘The Wide Window’ – lean on neo-Victorian and gothic aesthetic (Misc., 2025), yet in ‘The Ersatz Elevator’ there is a sudden shift to an Art Deco aesthetic, disorientating the Baudelaires and audiences alike. The design of the apartment feels as though Esme selected it out of a catalogue, and it reflects her character – fashionable but vapid. Welch manages to design a space that embodies society’s focus on elegance and fashion, while stripping away comfort to reflect on the Baudelaires’ emotions.
The Baudelaire orphans from ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Ersatz Elevator’ ; dir. Barry Sonnenfeld
Within an instant of the Baudelaires’ arrival at the penthouse, Esme gifts them pinstripe suits which are ‘in’ at the moment. The obsession with stripes in the apartment reflects Esme’s obsession with
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