L'inconnu de la Grande Arche (The Great Arch)

Like the Oscar-winning The Brutalist, the equally compelling L'inconnu de la Grande Arche is a film that balances idealism and tragedy, showing how one man anchors his soul in stone. With this biopic, Stéphane Demoustier (The Girl with a Bracelet) paints a portrait of Danish architect Johan Otto von Spreckelsen, commissioned in 1983 to design the Grande Arche in Paris’s La Défense business district. Claes Bang embodies this stubborn visionary with hypnotic intensity. His so-called “Cubo” is no mere building but a manifesto—a battle against bureaucracy and political interference. Demoustier reveals how von Spreckelsen defended his artistic purity to the bitter end, even at the cost of his health. L'inconnu de la Grande Arche is both a tribute to an artist’s uncompromising spirit and a sharp critique of how systems can suffocate creativity. True art, it insists, brooks no compromise.