THE UNKNOWN GIRL Send This Review to a Friend
Belgian directors Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne have in their
new film, “The Unknown Girl,” created a mystery entwined
with a woman doctor’s social conscience. What happens when
one doesn’t answer a doorbell and what might have
happened if one did? That is the basis for a well-conceived
and executed suspenseful drama that is set in Liège and
involves an assortment of characters while exploring the main
drama.
Dr. Jenny Davin is played by the excellent Adèle Haenel, who
works at her surgery and has a young, struggling intern, Julien,
portrayed by Olivier Bonnaud. One night she is ready to close
up and leave when her downstairs bell rings. The last thing
she wishes to do at that point is to see another patient. She
doesn’t answer, an inaction that will come back to haunt her.
When the battered body of an African immigrant woman is
found along a river bank, Dr. Davin surmises that she was the
one who rang her bell. Conscience-stricken, the doctor
becomes a detective determined to uncover the woman’s
identity, any relatives and see that she be given a proper
burial.
It is a tough task, what with interacting with police and finding
herself in danger by unsavory underworld characters who
want her to butt out. She also deals with a patient whom she
suspects may be connected to the crime.
The Dardenne brothers create an overall atmosphere with
their customary narrative and visual skills and extract first-
rate performances all around, from the star character of the
doctor to all of those introduced along the way during her
quest to discover what happened and who is responsible.
Always present is the doctor’s feeling of personal
responsibility dramatized against a background illuminating
class differences, the immigrant world and machinations
going on in Liège. As a bonus, we also get a picture of what a
medical practice can be like and how a dedicated doctor copes
with her daily responsibilities under her country’s health care
system. An IFC Films release. Reviewed September 5, 2017.
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