In praise of Nora Ephron's movie interiors, from You've Got Mail to Julie and Julia

The writer and filmmaker Nora Ephron brought an irresistible sensibility to the movies she made over the course of the 80s, 90s and 2000s; a warmth and light-heartedness that you can find in her writing and that also translates seamlessly into the interiors her characters inhabit. Ephron thought long and hard on the subject of home, and wrote memorably about her beloved apartment in The Apthorp on Manhattan's Upper West Side for The New Yorker. Whether she wrote or directed her films, plenty of her thinking on the subject seems to find her way into the sets, which might often be remembered for rather feminine interiors that convey a strong sense of lived-in comfort. Meg Ryan's apartment in You've Got Mail will surely never grow old as an example of the ideal single woman's space. A glossier, more luxurious version of the same aesthetic has been the hallmark of Nancy Meyers' famously desirable movie interiors (the cottage from The Holiday, anyone?). Although the true classics of Ephron's oeuvre date to the 1980s and 90s, there's something timeless about them, and we're here to examine the signatures of the style (with an assist from the excellent Instagram account @noraephroninteriors).

When Harry Met Sally (1989)

Ephron started out her career writing screenplays; first for the movie of her book Heartburn, which was based on her second marriage, and then for this smash hit directed by Rob Reiner. Billy Crystal's character revels in some clean-lined classic 1980s interiors throughout, while Meg Ryan (as she was destined to do in her next two Ephron-directed movies) leans into the group of textiles we'll call ‘comfort fabrics’.

A special mention in this film has to go to the apartment owned by Harry and Sally's friends Marie and Jess, wherein we get the infamous argument over the cartwheel table, something every couple can surely sympathise with, as well as a really rather delightful striped sofa from which to enjoy a contentious game of Pictionary.

Sleepless in Seattle (1993)

Ephron's next smash hit was her second directing effort, in which it is Tom Hanks' turn to be slowly enchanted by Meg Ryan's Annie, or at least the idea of her, or at least his son's idea of her. It's the men's spaces that really captivate here, with Tom Hanks' Seattle houseboat an absolute dream. Hanks plays an architect, and the interiors manage to capture the clean, understated aspects of 1990s design, while being simultaneously very comfortable looking.

Flying slightly under the radar is Annie's brother's office, the perfect academic's room that contains a piano, a harp and a gramophone, as well as, heaven of heavens, a bookshelf tall enough to need a ladder.

You've Got Mail (1998) 

The pinnacle of Ephron's movie interiors is surely to be found in You've Got Mail, where both Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks have absolute showstoppers of apartments. Tom Hanks is also back on a houseboat by the end, and Meg has the additional charming backdrop of her children's bookshop, The Shop Around the Corner. If this is what living in Manhattan in the 90s was like, let's all get in the time machine now. Meg's own apartment is probably the most memorable here, and is really the ultimate expression of the shabby chic aesthetic that was so popular at the time. The bones of the building, its mouldings, huge windows, stained glass, floor to ceiling bookshelves and parquet floors are utterly utterly magnificent, and then there's the decoration. The quilt, the frilled lampshade, the rumpled armchair, the distressed furniture, the SWANS on the wall–it's enough to set our hearts a-flutter to this day.

It's a serious toss-up whether we'd rather live here or in Tom Hanks' sleeker, more masculine apartment, filled with brown furniture and inhabited by his friendly Golden Retriever. As @noraephroninteriors so neatly puts it: “if this masculinity is toxic, I've been poisoned.”

Julie & Julia (2009)

10 years later and we see a bit of a departure from the earlier films with this venture into biopic. Legendary American food broadcaster Julia Child is the subject, with episodes from the contemporary food writer Julie Powell's life woven in. The interiors relating to the former's life in France and the US are beautifully done, with the kitchen she used for her TV shows faithfully recreated. It may not be the classic 90s interior we love from Ephron's seminal films, but it's pretty delightful nonetheless.

And while we're here, let's take a moment to appreciate Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci squeezed into a bathtub together. Those pink tiles deserve to come back.

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