Plot.
Poster of The Great Arch

The Great Arch

2025 · Film · 104 min

  • Drama
  • History

Plot

France, 1983. The biggest architectural competition in history is launched by the new socialist president, François Mitterrand. Coveted by all the biggest international architectural firms, the open-call competition is surprisingly won by an unknown: Johan Otto von Spreckelsen, an architecture teacher from Copenhagen. Until then, the fifty-year-old Dane had built only four buildings: his home, and three small chapels.

About The Great Arch

The Great Arch (French: L'Inconnu de la Grande Arche) is a 2025 French biographical drama film written and directed by Stéphane Demoustier, based on Laurence Cossé's 2016 novel La Grande Arche. It 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. The cast also includes Sidse Babett Knudsen, Xavier Dolan, Swann Arlaud and Michel Fau. The film had its world premiere in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival on 16 May. It was theatrically released in France by Le Pacte on 5 November.

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cast

  • Claes BangJohan Otto von Spreckelsen
  • Xavier DolanJean-Louis Subilon
  • Swann ArlaudPaul Andreu
  • Sidse Babett KnudsenLiv von Spreckelsen
  • Michel FauFrançois Mitterrand
  • Jean des ForêtsAlain Juppé
  • Micha LescotLeloup
  • Alessandro BressanelloMarble man
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