Directed by Magnus von Horn — Screenplay by Magnus von Horn and Line Langebek.
A Danish, Swedish, and Polish international co-production, Magnus von Horn’s The Girl with the Needle is the 15th Danish submission to the Best International Film Oscar category to earn a nomination. Based on a true story and set in Denmark some time after World War One, von Horn’s film follows Karoline (played by Vic Carmen Sonne), a woman struggling financially. When Karoline, who believes her husband to be dead, enters into a relationship with her well-off boss, Jørgen (played by Joachim Fjelstrup), she soon gets pregnant with his child. However, when Jørgen is forbidden from marrying her, Karoline starts to think that she would be better off without the child that she is expecting. It is at this moment that she comes into contact with Dagmar (played by Trine Dyrholm). Dagmar works at a candy shop, and she tells Karoline that she can help her get her child to a foster family for the right price. However, when Karoline gets to know this strange shop owner, it soon becomes clear that she isn’t being upfront about what she is actually doing to the children being left in her care.
As Danes will know, Magnus von Horn’s film is loosely based on the true story of Dagmar Overbye, an infamous early 20th-century Danish serial killer. However, von Horn and co-screenwriter Line Langebek have smartly opted for focal points that make it so that the film isn’t overly concerned with Dagmar and her perspective. Instead, The Girl with the Needle frontloads a focus on Karoline so as to emphasize harsh living conditions of the time. Although it is, on a macro level, a psychological drama with horror elements, the film is also a very interesting film about early 20th-century desperation for social mobility and the gatekeeping elements that keep people down or on their own side of the road, so to speak. This is seen in Karoline’s journey, as a financially struggling pregnant woman, but you also see it through another character seeking solace in a freak show. It is really communicated well both visually and in the narrative as a whole. It is also not a stretch to say that the film carries a clear political message about the critical need for universal reproductive freedoms, both then, now, and for all generations to come.
The visual style is also quite distinct. It feels very much like a Robert Eggers movie actually with the sense of unease its black-and-white images create. A Real Pain and Eo cinematographer Michał Dymek and Magnus von Horn create a visual aesthetic that is decidedly threatening in moments, and when you pair their visuals with Frederikke Hoffmeier’s eerily modern sounding score, as well as certain unforgettably startling images, you have a film that leaves a strong impression. Vic Carmen Sonne, Besir Zeciri, and, especially, Trine Dyrholm also turn in performances that forcefully complement the film’s foci. On the whole, Magnus von Horn’s The Girl with the Needle is a grim and dark psychological drama with astonishingly good cinematography and music. It is hard to watch both due to the dark material and what may be small pacing issues, but it remains a haunting film about harsh living and working conditions, especially for women, but also about the human monsters lurking in the dark preying on people in need.
8 out of 10
– Review Written by Jeffrey Rex Bertelsen.
I'm Jeffrey Rex 