The Girl with the Needle

Director: Magnus von Horn

The Girl with the Needle

Denmark-Poland-Sweden, 2024, 115‘

Director: Magnus von Horn

Cast: Vic Carmen Sonne (Karoline), Trine Dyrholm (Dagmar), Besir Zeciri (Peter), Avo Knox Martin (Erena), Joachim Fjelstrup (Jørgen), Tessa Hoder (Frida)

Gdynia – Best Feature Film, Best Film Award of the Network of Studio and Local Cinemas, Best Feature Film Award of Festivals and Reviews of the Polish Film Abroad, Best Feature Film Youth Jury Award, Best Film Journalists Award, Best Casting Directing (Tanja Grunwald), Best Score for Feature Film (Frederikke Hoffmeier), Best Production Design (Jagna Dobesz), Best Cinematography for Feature Film (Michal Dymek), Best Supporting Actress (Trine Dyrholm), Best Costume Design (Malgorzata Fudala)

Cannes – In Competition

 

Karoline (Vic Carmen Sonne), a young factory worker, is struggling to survive in post WW1 Copenhagen. When she finds herself unemployed, abandoned and pregnant, she meets Dagmar (Trine Dyrholm), a charismatic woman running an underground adoption agency, helping mothers to find foster homes for their unwanted children. With nowhere else to turn, Karoline takes on the role of a wet-nurse. A strong connection is formed between the two women, but Karoline’s world shatters when she stumbles upon the shocking truth behind her work.

Inspired by a true story and directed by Magnus von Horn (The Here After, Sweat) The Girl with the Needle is an unsettling tale about a woman struggling to find love and a sense of morality where realism meets nightmare expressionism. The film dabbles with horror and horror techniques to present a grim yet timely tale of society’s discarded and the disturbing lengths they’re forced to undergo to cope and survive. There’s a tremendous empathy for the downtrodden, with so much backstory building to the fateful connection between broken women that its length is felt.