13/09/2024 - Claes Bang, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Michel Fau, Swann Arlaud and Xavier Dolan star in the cast of this movie produced by Ex Nihilo in league with Zentropa and sold by Le Pacte

Actor Claes Bang (© Lis Kasper Bang) and actress Sidse Babett Knudsen (© Elena Ternovaja)

Monday 9 September saw Stéphane Demoustier kick off filming on L'inconnu de la Grande Arche, his 5th feature film after 40-Love [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (screened in Venice’s Critics’ Week 2014), Cléo & Paul [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (selected for the 2018 Berlinale’s Generation line-up), The Girl With A Bracelet [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Stéphane Demoustier
film profile] (awarded the Best Adapted Screenplay César and the Best Screenplay Lumière in 2021) and Borgo [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (2024).

Stand-out names in the cast include Danish talents Claes Bang (the winner of 2017’s Best Actor European Film Award for The Square [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ruben Östlund
film profile] and well-received in Toronto this week via Bonjour Tristesse [+see also:
film review
film profile]) and Sidse Babett Knudsen (awarded 2016’s Best Supporting Role César for Courted [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and nominated Best Actress in 2017 thanks to 150 Milligrams [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], at her best this year in Sons [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], among other works, and hitting screens next year in 13 jours, 13 nuits), their French counterparts Michel Fau (nominated for 2016’s Best Supporting Role César 2016 via Marguerite [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Xavier Giannoli
film profile], and recently on screens in Borgo and The Crime Is Mine [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: François Ozon
film profile]) and Swann Arlaud (the recipient of the 2018 César for Best Actor via Bloody Milk [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hubert Charuel
film profile], named Best Supporting Actor this year thanks to Anatomy of a Fall [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Justine Triet
film profile], and hitting screens via Sukkwan Island in 2025), and Canada’s Xavier Dolan (nominated for 2022’s Best Supporting Role César via Lost Illusions [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Xavier Giannoli
film profile]).

Written by Stéphane Demoustier based upon Laurence Cossé’s book, La Grande Arche, the screenplay revolves around the biggest architectural competition in history, which was both anonymous and open to all and was launched in the early ‘80s at the instigation of a new socialist president. Coveted by all the international leaders in architecture, the winner of this competition is an unknown entrant: Johan Otto von Spreckelsen, an architecture teacher from Copenhagen who takes everyone by surprise. To this point in time, the fifty-year-old has only built 4 buildings: his house and three small chapels. "Spreck" is thrust centre stage overnight, becoming the focus of everyone’s attention, and, most importantly, handed the reins to a colossal project: building the Grande Arche de la Défense in Paris.

L'inconnu de la Grande Arche is being produced by Muriel Meynard on behalf of Ex Nihilo in co-production with Danish firm Zentropa Entertainments, Le Pacte (who are also steering distribution in France and international sales) and France 3 Cinéma. Pre-purchased by Canal+, Ciné+ and France Télévisions, the feature film also enjoys support in the form of an advance on receipts from the CNC as well as backing from the Île-de-France region and from the SOFICA companies Cofimage, Cineventure, Palatine Etoile and Cinecap. The 31-day film shoot will unfold between 9 September and 25 October in Île-de-France, Denmark and Italy, with David Chambille (whose recent works include The Empire [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bruno Dumont
film profile] and To Live, To Die, To Live Again [+see also:
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trailer
film profile]) heading up photography.

For the record, Agat Films & Ex Nihilo unveiled The Most Precious of Cargoes [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Michel Hazanavicius
film profile] by Michel Hazanavicius (due for release in France on 20 November), The Marching Band [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Emmanuel Courcol
film profile] by Emmanuel Courcol (in France on 27 November), Holy Cow [+see also:
film review
interview: Louise Courvoisier
film profile] by Louise Courvoisier (awarded the Un Certain Regard Youth Prize - due for release in France on 11 December), Block Pass [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Antoine Chevrollier
film profile] by Antoine Chevrollier (in France on 5 February 2025) and Eat the Night [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Caroline Poggi and Jonathan…
film profile] by Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel at the most recent Cannes Film Festival. They also screened Lawrence Valin’s Little Jaffna [+see also:
film review
interview: Lawrence Valin
film profile] at the Venice Film Festival and are overseeing post-production on La Pie voleuse by Robert Guédiguian (read our article – due for release in France on 29 January 2025), Bonjour l’asile by Judith Davis (article - in France on 26 February 2025) and Nous toutes by Michel Leclerc (starring Léa Drucker, Vincent Elbaz and Vincent Macaigne).

(Translated from French)