Vicariot’s main contribution to the French architecture of his time is the “Curtain-Wall” system, imported from the United States, which allowed the creation of a building such as Orly to open wide to natural light but still to be protected from the weather, that is, adapted to concerned French latitudes’ inclement weather. By comparison, the Niemeyer buildings, which were to address the utopian project to establish a new town in the jungle, played on the alternation between transparency and opacity, the white color dominating anything else. In Benoit’s Brasilia, these buildings appear for what they are : totems of modernity raised on a wild territory recently conquered.
In Orly (Sud), the architecture is better suited as a backdrop for the glory of Aviation’s Golden Age (an age recently depicted in 2011, by the "Pan Am" show on ABC TV, or in the same vein, by John Travolta, -an actor happening to be just as well a licensed airline pilot-, who shares a famous passion for airports and aircrafts, and who chose to build his house on the model of an airport of the 60's, from which he has direct access to his personally-owned Boeing 707 (of which he is a proud owner). Thus a majority of outside views chosen by Jacques Benoit in his Orly (Sud) series include the Control Tower, the only element that identifies the site as an airport, whereas any building of Brasilia speaks for itself. As for the interior scenes, they take advantage of the wide setting designed by Henry Vicariot, both functional and luxurious.
The painting of Jacques Benoit is underpinned by a logic of a cinematic nature : framings, low-angle views, action, scenery... all of which contributes to the impression of a current drama. The latter remains mysterious though, indefinable. A fact that reinforces the feeling that the real subject is the architecture itself. It is not neutral that Brasilia and Orly Airport share the distinction of having served as an inspiration to many filmmakers, some among them moreover being French. An example that comes to mind is the extensive “Cult” sequence from L'Homme de Rio (That Man from Rio) by Philippe de Broca, in 1964.