At cinemas nationwide now.
In some ways, the feted Dardenne brothers’ latest is a little bit of a cheat. Known for their resolute social realism; a little scratch beneath the familiar surface of natural lighting, verite camera work and understated performances, reveals a procedural detective story with film noir trappings. Instead of a hardened Chandlerian gumshoe, we have a young doctor driven by accumulating guilt after she ignores a buzzer at her surgery after hours and a young woman is found dead nearby the next morning, with no identifying documents.
Jenny Davin, (Adèle Haenel), follows in the footsteps of the female protagonists of the Dardenne’s last two films, Cécile de France in The Kid with a Bike and Marion Cotillard in Two Days, One Night, as being kind, naturally altruistic characters reevaluating themselves in the wake of an unfamiliar situation. Haenel is wonderful throughout, guilt radiating from her eyes, as Jenny’s decision not to answer the door is an uncharacteristic spark of petulance aimed at chastising her young intern (Olivier Bonnaud).
The film’s structure is similar to Two Days, One Night, but where there was a propulsive intensity to the plight of Cotillard’s character, The Unknown Girl is marked by a curious inertia. Jenny’s investigations, interspersed with her house calls to various sub-strata of society in Liege, never ignite the fevered interest that the best procedurals can. There feels like a strange lack of urgency.
Perhaps this is because, as much as the dead girl, The title could also refer to Jenny. Beyond her devotion to her profession, going as far as to turn down a lucrative new position to remain at her current, less salubrious practice, we never find out much about her, or what drives her obsession besides guilt. For all Haenel’s exemplary skills, Jenny is such an internalised character that she feels like an iceberg of which merely a sliver is glimpsed onscreen.
When the final revelation is made, it feels like an uncharacteristically overwrought conclusion to such delicate proceedings. It is also curiously predictable, which is really something of a major flaw in a thriller, even one as low-key as this. However, Haenel is such a joy to watch on screen that The Unknown Girl is still very much pleasurable viewing, even if this is not up there with their finest work.