L’Inconnu de la Grande Arche
The story of a real-life architecture teacher from Copenhagen who surprised the world when he won an open-call competition launched by the French President.
French President François Mitterrand (Michel Fau) decides to launch an international architectural competition for the flagship project of his mandate: the Great Arch of La Défense, aligned with the Louvre and the Arc de Triomphe. Against all odds, Otto von Spreckelsen (Claes Bang), a Danish architect, wins the 1982 competition. Overnight, this 53-year-old man, unknown in France, arrives in Paris where he is propelled at the helm of this pharaonic project. While the architect intends to build the Great Arch exactly as he envisioned, his ideas quickly clash with realistic constraints and the vicissitudes of politics. Cast also includes Sidse Babett Knudsen and Xavier Dolan. ‘Démoustier is one of those rare French filmmakers who can blend suspense with perceptive writing and characterisation’. Hollywood Reporter. (Subtitles)
France/Denmark 2025 Stéphane Démoustier 105m
