THE GREAT ARCH ©2025 AGAT FILMS, LE PACTE
L’Inconnu de la Grande Arche (The Great Arch), Stéphane Demoustier’s vision
After the success of Borgo (2023), Stéphane Demoustier brings the story of Johan Otto von Spreckelsen to the screen in L’Inconnu de la Grande Arche (The Great Arch). This Danish architect was selected by François Mitterrand to lead the pharaonic construction of the Great Arch of La Défense in Paris. The film is screened as part of Un Certain Regard.
What was the starting point for your film?
From the very beginning, there is a real person we know virtually nothing about: Johan Otto von Spreckelsen, a professor in Copenhagen who wins an international architectural competition launched by François Mitterrand in 1982, which the Socialist president considers to be the flagship project of his term of office. Overnight, this 53-year-old man, unknown in France, arrives in Paris where he is propelled to the helm of this pharaonic project.
The film’s cast includes Swann Arlaud, Sidse Babett Knudsen and even Xavier Dolan. How was their collaboration on set?
I loved the contrast among them. The whirlwind energy of Xavier Dolan is not the contained restlessness of Swann Arlaud, the concentration of Claes Bang, the vitality of Sidse Babett Knudsen or the poetry of Michel Fau.
How did you shoot the film?
It rained from start to finish! Everywhere. In Denmark, in Italy, in Paris: it was always raining. The film had to incorporate this state of affairs, and it even often became an added benefit. However, there was a scene on the Champs-Elysées where rain was not allowed. The avenue was blocked for us for three hours, for only one Sunday morning. We needed it to be sunny because there’s a scene in which President Mitterrand examines the effect of the sun’s rays on a painting held up to the horizon. And by some miracle, we had nice weather that morning…
What did you learn during the course of making this film, and what would you like people to take away?
I learned that “a cube is a cube”. And I would like people to remember that nothing is created without political will.
Let’s talk about your career and your love of film: What made you want to become a director?
I wanted to become a director by watching films in movie theaters in Paris. That said, I don’t think that I’m influenced by directors that I love or films that I see. Furthermore, there would be too many of them to name them all. There is, however, one film that left an impression on me and that I would recommend: Le Gang du Bois du Temple (The Temple Woods Gang), by Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche. I can’t understand how this film has gone unnoticed.
Can you tell us about your next project?
It’s a feature film set at a campsite with teenagers where there’s a crime. It’s about a contemporary story that takes place over thirty-six hours at the same location. It’s the complete opposite of L’Inconnu de la Grande Arche (The Great Arch).