Cathedral

Robert, a blind man and now a widower, has come to visit his friend and her husband. Prompted by a television show, the apprehensive husband asks Robert if he really knows what a cathedral is: his answer is a lesson in how to truly see. This dramatization of Raymond Carver’s classic short story “Cathedral” presents a minimalist exploration of loneliness, vision, and personal spirituality. An interview follows with Carver’s widow, Tess Gallagher, whose poem “The Hands of the Blindman” is excerpted in the production. (56 minutes)

Started in 1247, Cologne Cathedral was completed in 1880 after a 300-year break in the work carried out on it. Via rib vaults and flying buttresses, the film explores Gothic architectural vocabulary and its construction methods. It also reveals the more recent metallic architecture. It shows how this cathedral, which embodies the unity of Germany, is both a Gothic archetype and a building of the 19th century. (26 minutes)