From the Official Catalog of 14th International Architecture Exhibition. Since 1914, France has not so much “absorbed” modernity as it has shaped it, through marking contributions of architects and engineers responding to the expectations of diverse components of society. As on many other national scenes, modern forms and structures have addressed the programs of social reform, materializing great hopes. But many of the expectations raised by remaking able experiments and flamboyant discourses have remained unmet. These “misfits” are discussed through four contradictory episodes marked by hope and disillusion, which are woven together by a large-screen film assembling propaganda footage and fictional movies.