Even the most celebrated directors in the world can sometimes be humbled by criticism, and when the reception for “The Unknown Girl” was less than ecstatic at the Cannes Film Festival this year, the Dardennes didn’t fight back, they went to work. The siblings made a new cut of the movie, that featured 32 revisions, and now runs seven-minutes shorter than the version that screened at Cannes. And this spruced up edit is the one that will hit an arthouse near you.
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Starring Adele Haenel, Jeremie Renier, Olivier Bonnaud, and Louka Minnella, “The Unknown Girl” follows a doctor who digs into the past of a young woman who is found murdered, after she turned her away from treatment. Here’s the official synopsis:
Rising French actor Adèle Haenel (Water Lilies, Les Combattants) stars as Jenny Davin, a talented doctor who refuses to open the door of her practice to a mysterious late-night caller. The next morning, she learns that the caller was a girl who has been found dead, and that the police have no way of identifying her. Shocked and guilt-stricken by the news, Jenny resolves to discover the name of the young girl so that she will not be buried anonymously – to ensure she doesn’t disappear as if she had never lived.
“The Unknown Girl” opens in the U.K. on December 2nd, and will be released in the U.S. by IFC Films, but no date has been set at the moment.