The Great Arch

Drama with a stellar cast, based on the true and unlikely story of the unknown Danish teacher who designed one of Paris’s most monumental landmarks.

When President François Mitterrand announces an architectural competition for a massive monument in his honor, the world expects an international star architect to win. To everyone’s surprise, the prestigious commission goes instead to an entirely unknown and untested Danish architecture teacher named Johan, who suddenly faces the challenge of a lifetime: building what will become known as Le Grand Arche. Claes Bang is pitch-perfect as the underdog in this fact-based epic about the thin line between artistic idealism and monumental madness.

• Erik Toresson Hellqvist