The Great Arch
| The Great Arch | |
|---|---|
| French | L'Inconnu de la Grande Arche |
| Directed by | Stéphane Demoustier |
| Written by | Stéphane Demoustier |
| Based on | La Grande Arche by Laurence Cossé |
| Produced by | Muriel Meynard |
| Starring | Claes Bang Sidse Babett Knudsen Xavier Dolan Swann Arlaud Michel Fau |
| Cinematography | David Chambille |
| Edited by | Damien Maestraggi |
| Music by | Olivier Marguerit |
Production companies | Ex Nihilo Zentropa Entertainment |
| Distributed by | Le Pacte |
Release date |
|
Running time | 104 minutes |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
The Great Arch (French: L'Inconnu de la Grande Arche) is a French drama film, directed by Stéphane Demoustier and released in 2025.[1] The film stars Claes Bang as Johan Otto von Spreckelsen, the Danish architect who won the 1983 competition for the design of the Grande Arche in Paris despite being virtually unknown.[2]
The cast also includes Sidse Babett Knudsen as von Spreckelsen's wife Liv, Xavier Dolan as French bureaucrat Jean-Louis Subilon, Swann Arlaud as French architect Paul Andreu, and Michel Fau as François Mitterand.[3]
Production
The film was adapted from Laurence Cossé's 2016 novel La Grande Arche.[4]
Bang was cast in the lead role despite not speaking French, as von Spreckelsen himself was not a French speaker, and carefully rehearsed the script to ensure that he would be able to perform it.[5]
Distribution
The film premiered in the Un Certain Regard stream at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.[6]
It is slated for commercial release in France in November 2025.[7]
Critical response
Jordan Mintzer of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that "Demoustier’s depiction of the long — it took seven years from start to finish — and sordid affair behind The Great Arch’s construction is a tale of lost illusions, with von Spreckelsen as a misguided genius who won the architectural lottery and wound up paying a hefty price for it. There are some clever bits of humor thoughout the movie, especially involving all the shenanigans of the French, but the Dane’s story ends on a decidedly dark note."[2]
For Cineuropa, Fabien Lemercier wrote that "Skilfully navigating the paradoxical dimension of his subject, tracing the path of an individual with a very human radicalism (particularly attached to hand-drawing) in the midst of a number of fairly specific professional twists and turns (regularity of joints, fixing points, foundations, support, glued glass, nitrate staining of Carrara marble, experiments, search for solutions, etc.), Stéphane Demoustier succeeds in expressing the most sensitive nuances for an uninformed audience using a patina of comedy that does not spare the French presidential royalty and its procession of senior civil servants. It's a “marriage of the dull and the shiny” that gives the film its seductive balance, its zest and its charm."[8]
References
- ^ Matthew Joseph Jenner, "Cannes 2025 review: L’inconnu de la Grande Arche (Stéphane Demoustier)". International Cinephile Society, 18 May 2025.
- ^ a b Jordan Mintzer, "‘The Great Arch’ Review: Claes Bang Captivates as an Unknown Danish Architect Battling French Bureaucrats to Build His Monumental Work". The Hollywood Reporter, 16 May 2025.
- ^ Martin Kudlac, "Cannes 2025 Review: Biopic THE GREAT ARCH, Measured Study of Vision and Compromise". Screen Anarchy, 9 June 2025.
- ^ Jean-Baptiste Morain, "'L’Inconnu de la Grande Arche' : le portrait tendre d’un homme obstiné". Les Inrockuptibles, 17 May 2025.
- ^ Melanie Goodfellow, "Claes Bang On Stéphane Demoustier’s French-Language Cannes Film ‘The Great Arch’: 'The Really Weird Thing Is I Don’t Speak A Word Of French.'". Deadline Hollywood, 17 May 2025.
- ^ Samuel Douhaire, "Cannes 2025 : “L’Inconnu de la Grande Arche”, une reconstitution palpitante au casting impeccable". Télérama, 16 May 2025.
- ^ "L’inconnu de la Grande Arche : découvrez la bande-annonce du film qui sortira en novembre". Défense 92, 31 July 2025.
- ^ Fabien Lemercier, "Review: The Great Arch". Cineuropa, 16 May 2025.