Fancy French Words: Trompe l'oeil

        Before you choke yourself trying to get the word out on your own, let's say it together: trompe l'oeil. The first syllable sounds like "romp" but with a "t" in front of it; the second syllable sounds like the name "Lloyd" without the "d." Perfect. So this term is French for "deceive the eye," and it refers to the optical illusion where something flat (like a painting) appears to be three dimensional and seems very realistic.

Ceiling of Jesuit Church, Vienna by Andrea Pozzo (Italian); 1703; fresco.
Location: Vienna, Austria; Jesuit Church.

        This image is of the ceiling inside the Jesuit Church in Vienna, Austria. At first glance, it appears to be a finely decorated interior with a dome, but this entire image is actually flat.

        Trompe l'oeil has been used in popular culture, as well, not just in paintings in old churches. A prime example? Raiders of the Lost Ark. That's right, your favorite archaeologist/geeky sex symbol Indiana Jones is associated with the term. In the warehouse scene, the warehouse seems endless not because it was a super big warehouse, but because part of the warehouse was actually painted on glass. The transition from smaller, real warehouse into the extended painting is virtually seamless.

        When a trompe l'oeil is painted on glass, as in this case, it is also referred to as "matte painting." This large a warehouse would be hard to recreate in its entirety and would add to the budget of the film, but having a highly skilled artist paint the optical illusion works out just fine because I'm pretty sure none of you watched the scene and said "obvious tromp l'oeil is obvious."

        Indy isn't the only one getting in on this technique in geeky films, either. Other scenes to make use of the trompe l'oeil effect include the Death Star's laser tunnel in Star Wars, the Starfleet headquarters in Star Trek The Motion Picture, the Batty and Deckard chase scene in Blade Runner, and the OCP tower in RoboCop. Add these movies to your Netflix queue and see if you can tell, now that I've let you in on this movie black magic that got its start in boring ol' Art History.

Warehouse Scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark via Homages, Ripoffs, and Coincidences.