THE GREAT ARCH Reviewed by GREG KING
Director: Stephane Demoustier
Stars: Claes Bang, Sidise Babett Knudsen, Xavier Dolan, Swann Arlaud, Michel Fau, Pierre-Francois Grunenwald, Alessandro Bressanello, Thomas Garcia.
There have been a few films about the trials of an obsessive architect who refuses to compromise his ideals or vision even though his attitude leads to trouble. In 1949 we had The Fountainhead, based on a novel written by Ayn Rand, which starred Gary Cooper as an idealistic architect who preferred to struggle in obscurity rather than compromise; in 2024 we saw The Brutalist with Adrien Brody in his Oscar winning role as an obsessed architect; and in the same year we had Adam Driver as an architect in Francis Ford Coppola’s expensive and ambitious folly Megalopolis. Those films all depicted fictitious architects; this new drama from France is inspired by the true story of an architect who paid a huge personal price for his quest for perfection and refusal to compromise.
In 1982 French President Francois Mitterrand announced an international competition to design an architectural creation to celebrate the bicentennial of the French Revolution. The Grande Arch was to become one of the flagship projects of his time in office. But the project eventually became mired in controversy.
The winner of the competition was a then unknown architect from Copenhagen – Johann Otto Von Spreckelsen, who taught architecture and had to date only built four churches and his own home. His design was chosen because of its supposed purity, which quickly won over Mitterand, who had a bold vision. The monument was to be constructed in the La Defense business park in Paris, on the historic axis linking the Louvre and the Arc De Triomphe. Von Spreckelsen also thought that his cube, as he called the project, would become one of the architectural marvels of Paris.
Von Spreckelsen insisted that his ideas be followed to the letter. His vision included a special type of Carrara marble from Italy which would turn pink. He refused to compromise his vision. But his efforts were hampered and even undermined by fellow architect Jean-Louis Subilon (Swann Arlaud), who was appointed the project manager, and overly stuffy civil servant Paun Andreu (played by Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan) who represented the bureaucracy and who monitored the project and its finances closely.
Von Sprecklesen clashed often and heatedly with the bureaucracy, the money men and the competing egoes that surrounded him as he steadfastly refused to compromise. He even clashed with his supportive wife Liv (Sidse Babett Knudsen, from A Hologram For The King, etc).
Danish actor Claes Bang (from The Square, etc) has a strong screen presence and is strong as the brilliant but uncompromising and ultimately flawed and tragic character of Von Sprecklesen. Knudsen brings a bit of steel to her Liv, an underwritten role. Michel Fau (from Francois Ozon’s Swimming Pool, etc) brings a foppish quality to his role as Mitterrand.
The Great Arch has been written and directed by Stephane Demoustier (Cleo & Paul, etc) who has adapted the screenplay from the 2016 novel written by Laurence Cosse, which documented the tumultuous seven-year period in which the great arch was completed. However, Demoustier has taken some liberties along the way, especially in imagining some of the dialogue and private scenes between Von Sprecklesen and Liv. However, the film itself remains fairly understated and lacks and sense of urgency and is unable to sustain the interest for the duration of its 108-minute running time. Demoustier directs the material with restraint, but he has sprinkled the film with some moments of humour.
The film has been nicely shot in the 4:3 ratio aspect by cinematographer David Chambille (Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague, etc) who uses handheld cameras to good effect and he gives the material an almost documentary like feel. Great production design from Catherine Cosme also gives us some insight into the enormous project and gives us a strong sense of the era. Demoustier uses visual effects to help create the construction site for the cube.
The Great Arch ends on a rather bleak and downbeat note which raises a couple of questions about Von Specklesen’s fate.
★★☆
