Writer: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne (Screenplay)
Starring: Adele Haenel, Olivier Bonnaud, Jeremie Renier, Louka Minnella
Plot: A woman gets obsessed with the case of a dead woman after learning that the woman had died shortly after having rung her door for help.
Tagline – Sharp as a thriller… the best Dardenne film since “The Child”
Runtime: 1 Hour 53 Minutes
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Strong Mystery Movie
Story: The Unknown Girl starts as we meet popular community doctor Jenny Davin (Haenel) who has always found time for her patients but now is about to get improved environment to be working in. she still keeps her small surgery for her locals but when a mysterious girl comes knocking on her door she ignores it, only to discover the girl is found dead the next day.
Upon hearing the news Jenny starts looking into who this mysterious girl is, no ID was found so she starts going around her fellow doctors to see if they know her or have treated her but with no answers. The deeper she gets into investigating the more danger she finds herself in once she starts getting targeted by the people involved.
Thoughts on The Unknown Girl
Characters – Jenny is our doctor, she has a wonderful relationship with her patient, where she is willing to give up her own time to see them, but the one time she doesn’t answer the door she gets visited by a mysterious woman who ends up dying. Jenny is filled with guilt and wants to learn the truth about this girl using her connections, but it doesn’t realize what she has found herself in the middle off. The rest of the characters we meet are a mix of patients and suspects in Jenny’s life.
Performances – Adele Haenel is the star of the film, she carries every scene as we follow her journey into discovering the truth about the girl, this is a very strong performance because we must witness her through each and every scene of the movie. The rest of the cast are good without taking away from Adele’s performance.
Story – The story is good because we follow the busy doctor continue her duties while trying to solve the mystery, she has to do both with calm and watching her balance the two makes everything seem like an everyday situation for the Doctor. We get a mystery that does take time to solve and does seem to be a cover up of some sort and the story does keep us guessing as to where things will go.
Crime/Mystery – The crime is the death of the unknown girl, it could be murder it could be an accident which gives us both the mystery and potential crime side of the story.
Settings – The settings show us the community where the people can help each other both in trouble and with cover up problems. This helps us understand why Jenny wants to solve the mystery.
Scene of the Movie – Sister visit.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – It is slightly too long, having a couple of scene we didn’t need.
Final Thoughts – This is a good mystery film, it keeps us guessing to where things will be going and is easily one that should be getting watched.
Overall: Good crime mystery.
Rating