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.
Cast: 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
Opening Weekend: €101,742
(Italy)
(30 October 2016)
Technical Specs
Runtime:|
(re-edit)
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. See more »
Quotes:
User Review
Author:
Rating: 8/10
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.
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