The Great Arch: Stéphane Demoustier’s retelling of how the project of Paris’ Great Arch evolved is essentially the story of an idealist artist’s fight against those he sees as contrary to his ideas. The protagonist, played by Claes Bang, is an uncompromising man, with an almost religious passion for his project, but the emotion doesn’t come accross, just the mechanics of it. He is not a sympathetic character, and neither are the people he comes accross, mostly the bureaucrat ( who is played by Xavier Dolan) and the architect in charge of the physical work (played by Swann Arlaud). The performances are generally effective but cold. The same can be said of Sidse Babett Knudsen, who plays the protagonist’s wife. The film is very well put together, with very good production design in particular (by designer Catherine Cosme, who recreates the look of Paris in the 1980s); cinematographer David Chambille shoots the film in a narrow frame, in a decision to echo the work being portrayed.