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The Great Arch

Play trailer Poster for The Great Arch 2025 1h 45m Drama History Play Trailer Watchlist
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1983. French President François Mitterrand 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, a Danish architect, wins the 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.

Critics Reviews

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Brian Tallerico RogerEbert.com A dramatic film about architecture is an inherently risky proposition and “The Great Arch” gets lost in the details that Von Spreckelsen considered so important. May 17, 2025 Full Review Jordan Mintzer The Hollywood Reporter Bang is perfect for this kind of role, playing an imposing figure who can be both aloof and egocentric, and whose grand stature diminishes as the film progresses. May 16, 2025 Full Review Bethany Lola Loud and Clear Reviews In every facet, it feels accomplished. Rated: 4/5 May 22, 2025 Full Review Max Borg Next Best Picture The film is both a monument (pun not intended) to a great and perhaps overlooked visionary and a funny indictment of the system that wanted him to do his thing but not too much of it. Rated: 7/10 May 19, 2025 Full Review Ricardo Gallegos La Estatuilla Stéphane Demoustier delivers a biopic that subverts the grandeur of a historical monument to remind us of the power that the merciless capitalist machine commands over art. [Full Review in Spanish] May 17, 2025 Full Review Read all reviews

Cast & Crew

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Stéphane Demoustier

Director

Claes Bang

Actor

Michel Fau

Actor

Sidse Babett Knudsen

Actor

Xavier Dolan

Actor

Swann Arlaud

Actor
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Movie Info

Synopsis 1983. French President François Mitterrand 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, a Danish architect, wins the 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.
Director
Stéphane Demoustier
Producer
Muriel Meynard
Screenwriter
Stéphane Demoustier
Production Co
Agat Films - Ex Nihilo, Zentropa Entertainments
Genre
Drama, History
Original Language
French
Runtime
1h 45m