THE GREAT ARCH
THREE STARS A Danish architect wins a competition to design a new monument for Paris. It goes well until politicians and bureaucrats weigh in on the project.
PERIOD DRAMA FRANCE French #LAGRANDEARCHE Starring Claes Bang, Sidse Babett Knudsen
Australian audiences will feel an uncomfortable sense of déjà vu watching THE GREAT ARCH. Here is the story of attempting to build a grand architectural vision while politicians and bean-counters try to square the curve. Leaders want statements, bureaucrats want economies and a Danish architect discovers that designing the thing is considerably easier than getting that thing built. No, not the Sydney Opera House. This is the story of the famous cube at La Défense, Paris.
In 1983, Danish architect Johan Otto von Spreckelsen (Claes Bang) is the unlikely winner of an international competition to create a new landmark that would align with the Arc de Triomphe along the Champs Élysées, joining past and future in one grand gesture. His elegantly simple idea is a gigantic open cube adorned with some smaller cubes, and the famously uncompromising architect sees little reason why anyone should think otherwise. Unfortunately, the people paying for the cube have ideas of their own; smaller, cheaper ideas. Plus ça change.
Bang gives Spreckelsen a resolute, almost stubbornly contained presence, making the Dane’s determination both admirable and occasionally exasperating. The always compelling Sidse Babett Knudsen is excellent as his wife Liv, providing warmth and steel as the pressures of the project begin to invade their personal lives. Xavier Dolan rounds out a strong cast as Mitterand’s toadying bureaucrat charged with containing the project.
Political shifts, government interference and the practicalities of actually constructing something this large begin to chip away at von Spreckelsen’s pristine vision. Paul Andreu (Swann Arlaud) is brought in to manage the construction and the get the job done, even if a few corners have to be cut. As they fight over materials, design changes and artistic control, THE GRAND ARCH becomes a familiar battle between the person who imagines the grand project, and the people who have to pay for it. Inevitably, von Spreckelsen becomes increasingly isolated and embattled before walking away. Familiar?
There’s plenty of dry amusement in architectural egos and French bureaucracy, while the period detail is pleasingly precise. If the film is perhaps a little too solemn about its troubled visionary, and its emotional undercurrents remain frustratingly elusive, THE GREAT ARCH still makes an absorbing monument out of the messy business of building monuments. Something Sydney-siders know all too well.
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