Menilmontant: The street as a symbol of Lily's Obsession

That's not saying much, because streets in Paris aren't very steep. But as a kid, walking up Rue Menilmontant with shopping bags, accompanied by my mother, the trip back home wasn't always fun. The reason why I'm mentioning this street/neighborhood is because in my film class the other day, I watched a short film by Dimitri Kirsanoff which is called, lo and behold, "Menilmontant". Now, the plot does not have much to do with House of Mirth, but since I was reading the book at the same time that I was watching this film (not simultaneously, of course...) I couldn't help but see bits of Edith Wharton's novel echo some of the movie's plot.
The silent and black&white film "Menilmontant" is about two sisters who move out from the country side after their parents are mysteriously murdered. As they arrive in the city, they are amazed by the movement and the music of the city. It becomes clear that they hope to find a better future there, and that they hope to be able to enjoy themselves, perhaps in "flaneur" fashion.
However, they move to the working class neighborhood of Menilmontant where they find miniscule work. To make a longe(ish) story short, by the end of the film, the younger sister becomes pregnant with a man that her older sister is now seeing, and we see her face super-imposed over the Seine, indicating her being overwhelmed and hopeless.
What I find most symbolic here, however, and which we unfortunately never discussed in my film class, is the symbol of Menilmontant itself. Because the street is steep, one either looks up and must "climb" the street, or looks down and sees all of Paris- the eiffel tower, the cars, the people in their guises, etc...I find this relevant to Lily's obsession in staying at the top, an obsession probably tied to the fact that once on top, you may look comfortably at your surrounding and even find them beautiful. However, reaching the top is painful, and going down is much easier. Accurately, Lily'spath spirals downward quite quickly, and once there the top seems impossible to reach. The Eiffel tower is no longer in sight, and the music and the treasures of the city no longer a reality.
Of course, Paris does not appear in the House of Mirth, but I thought the metaphor that Menilmontant could provide us when thinking of our heroine to be interesting.