The Unknown Girl (2016)

A female doctor gets obsessed with the case of a dead woman after learning that the woman had died shortly after having rung her door for help.

Directors:

Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne

Writers:

Jean-Pierre Dardenne (screenplay), Luc Dardenne (screenplay)

Stars:

Adèle Haenel, Olivier Bonnaud, Jérémie Renier

2 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Adèle Haenel	...	Jenny Davin
Olivier Bonnaud	...	Julien
Jérémie Renier	...	Le père de Bryan
Louka Minnella	...	Bryan
Christelle Cornil	...	La mère de Bryan
Nadège Ouedraogo	...	La caissière du cybercafé
Olivier Gourmet	...	Le fils Lambert
Pierre Sumkay	...	Le père Lambert
Yves Larec	...	Le docteur Habran
Ben Hamidou	...	L'inspecteur Ben Mahmoud
Laurent Caron	...	L'inspecteur Bercaro
Fabrizio Rongione	...	Le docteur Riga
Jean-Michel Balthazar	...	Le patient diabétique
Thomas Doret	...	Lucas
Marc Zinga	...	Le proxénète

Storyline

The efficient Dr. Jenny Davin works hard and has been chosen to replace Dr. Habran, who has just retired, at the Kennedy Hospital. One night, someone rings the bell of her office after-hours and Dr. Davin asks her trainee Julien to not open the door since does not to seem an emergency. On the next morning, Police Inspectors Ben Mahmoud and Bercaro require her surveillance tape since a teenager was found dead on the other side of the road and they are investigating what happened. Jenny feels guilty for not opening the door and becomes obsessed to find the teenager's identity. Her investigation affects her relationship with patients that might know something about the unknown girl.

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Plot Keywords:

medical examination | strong female lead | female doctor | doctor patient relationship | strong female character | 

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Taglines:

Sharp as a thriller... the best Dardenne film since "The Child".

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan] Official site [UK]

Country:

Belgium France

Language:

French

Release Date:

25 August 2017 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Unknown Girl

Filming Locations:

Belgium

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$13,477, 10 September 2017

Gross USA:

$150,549

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$2,432,640

Company Credits

Production Co:

Les Films du Fleuve, Archipel 35, Savage Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min 106 min (re-edit)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Dardenne brothers re-edited The Unknown Girl (2016) post-Cannes. They had originally planed to make some very minor changes but, after consultation with their editor, decided to make more extensive cuts. They made an additional 32 new edits to the film, which is now 7 minutes shorter than its original Cannes version. The new version will be unveiled at the Institute Lumiere in Lyon in June 2016 as part of a retrospective of the Dardenne brothers' films organized by Thierry Frémaux.

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Quotes

Le père de Bryan: She doesn't care.
Le père de Bryan: She's dead.
Jenny Davin: If she was dead, she wouldn't be in our heads.

User Reviews

A crime thriller from the Dardenne brothers

A dead body near the riverbank. An inconclusive police investigation. A prostitution network, operating from a shady bar. It sounds like the classic ingredients for a Raymond Chandler crime story. In reality, it's the set-up for 'La Fille Inconnue', the latest film by the Belgian film makers Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne.

With this crime story, they explore a new genre. Usually, their films are social dramas about people on the fringes of society and their daily struggle for life. With this approach, they have made many very intense and moving films. But in my opinion, they were starting to repeat themselves. 'Deux Jours, Une Nuit', from 2014 was much acclaimed but overrated.

In many of their films, the plot development is secondary to the emotional power of the performances. Not so in 'La Fille Inconnue'. The plot is exciting and functional in carrying the story forward. The central character is a young doctor, who gets obsessed by a murder case because the victim rang her doorbell minutes before being killed. The doctor didn't answer the bell, and blames herself for it. She is determined to reveal the identity of the victim and starts an investigation of her own. Because she is a doctor, she is bound by an oath of silence and can't share her information with the police - a very clever script element. At the end, she manages to solve the crime. But at the same time, the truth confronts her with the fact that the victim would still be alive if she had opened the door.

Of course, this is not a classic crime thriller in the style of, let's say, Claude Chabrol. The Dardenne brothers remain true to their trademark hyper-realistic style and to their social conscience. The young doctor is treating poor, displaced, and lonely people. She herself is a solitary, business-like character. The film is set in the gritty industrial town of Seraing near Liège, the home base of the Dardennes. It's populated by working class people. They don't show emotions easily, and that goes for the doctor as well.

The crime element makes 'La Fille Inconnue' stand out in a positive way. It's one of the best films the Dardenne brothers have made in a long time. And it's definitely one of the best films coming out of Belgium this year. Never mind the lukewarm reception of this film in Cannes.