La fille inconnue (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 | strong female character | courage | forced prostitution | 

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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:

La chica sin nombre

Filming Locations:

Belgium

Box Office

Gross USA:

$150,549, 2 November 2017

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

Adèle Haenel has been a fan of Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne for a long time, citing La Promesse (1996) and Le fils (2002) as her favorite among their works.

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Quotes

Julien: When I saw that kid having his fit, shaking all over... I saw myself when my dad hit me. All I got from him was beatings. I wanted to be a doctor to treat him or to treat myself, I don't know. Or to be a better doctor than ours who thought I bruised myself playing.

User Reviews

Beguiling Themes; guilt, doctor-patient relationship, immigrants, underworld, . .

"A good doctor is not emotional," maintains Dr. Jenny Davin. "If you are moved by a patient's suffering, it causes a bad diagnosis." Dr. Davin runs a medical clinic in Liege and is moving swiftly up the career ladder. Late at night the clinic door buzzer rings. There is a young woman and a plea for help. The plea is ignored. Dr. Davin wants her good doctor mantra to stick for her office intern. "She will come back tomorrow," says Dr. Davin of the unknown girl. Yet the next day the woman, an immigrant, is found dead. Consumed by guilt, Dr. Davin searches for clues to who this woman is and why she died. In this way Dr. Davin enters an underworld in the community, full of fear and manipulation, that she never knew of before and from which she may not return.

The film explores enticing themes; immigrants trapped in a web of fear, finding the balance between too much emotion and too little, and – the most beguiling – the right amount of emotion for a doctor to utilize in their trade. "Wouldst thou, then, have preferred the condition of a weak woman, exposed to all evil, and capable of none?" Dr. Rappaccini asks his daughter Beatrice, in Hawthorne's wonderful story. "I would fain have been loved," answers Beatrice "not feared." Dr. Davin walks the same line between love and fear, empathy and professional judgment, arrogance and weakness, . . .

The Dardenne brothers are masters at their trade. They specialize in portraying economic and social justice, as they do here. It is a slow-paced, yet seducing film. It is two weeks after I saw the film and the lessons it teaches linger. The story simmers in a tantalizing way in my mind. Seen at the Miami International Film Festival.