Jupiter: the chilling trailer which imagines a nuclear war between France and Russia

The President of the Republic Denis Ménochet must make terrible decisions…

“In the secret bunker of the Élysée, a president facing the greatest crisis in history.“

What if the conflict in Ukraine ended up dragging France into a nuclear face-to-face with Vladimir Putin’s Russia? It is the nightmare that stages Jupitera particularly chilling geopolitical thriller whose trailer has just been revealed.

For his first feature film, Alexandre Smia plays the game of political fiction by imagining a military escalation that could lead France to the edge of the precipice. At the center of this crisis, Denis Ménochet plays the President of the Republic Paul Archambault:

“Newly elected, President Paul Archambault must face an unprecedented crisis: his Russian counterpart, target of an attack, brandishes a nuclear ultimatum threatening an ally of France. Faced with the risk of military escalation, the president gathered his staff in the Elysée bunker. In the secrecy of the Jupiter Command Post, Paul will have to make a dizzying decision” details the synopsis.

Facing Denis Ménochet, we will see André Dussollier, Reda Kateb, Ella Rumpf, Frédéric Pierrot, Céline Sallette, Cédric Kahn, Jérémy Lopez and Dominique Blanc.

With its closed doors at the heart of French power, Jupiter intends to play on a very contemporary fear: that of seeing a regional war degenerate into a global conflict. The trailer shows a president under pressure, surrounded by soldiers and advisers, forced to choose between several scenarios, none of which seems to offer a truly reassuring outcome. A story that echoes A House of Dynamitethe Netflix thriller by Kathryn Bigelow, which also told, from inside American power, the first hours of a global nuclear crisis.

The film also takes its title from the Jupiter Command Post, the name given to the presidential crisis room located under the Élysée, from which the head of state can monitor and command French strategic operations.

Jupiter will be presented out of competition at the 83rd Venice Film Festival, which takes place this week. The film will then be released in French cinemas on November 18, 2026.