Melbourne International Film Festival Review - The Girl with the Needle

 

“What did you do with your baby?”

Grim, stark and depressing, The Girl with the Needle is a darkly foreboding and atmospherically gothic crime drama set in the aftermath of WWI Denmark that’s filled with abject dread and horror in a troubling and deeply distressing film disturbingly based on real life tragedies. 

Discussion Points:

A grim and stark black-and-white crime drama that’s almost gothic in its tone and atmospheric dread. Magnus von Horn has crafted a deeply unsettling, menacing and disturbing tale that’s so sharply shot and engrossingly presented that even as it descends into the darkest parts of human evil, it never loses its grip on your soul. Vic Carmen Sonne powerfully portrays a woman broken and desperate as her world slowly falls apart. But it’s Trine Dyrholm who absolutely steals this film with one of the most quietly terrifying and distressingly cold performances I’ve ever seen. Von Horn uses the monochromatic visuals to craft some truly haunting images using shadows to obscure and develop dread, mystery, confusion and psychological horror. Truly distressing and disturbing, not visually, but thematically that it left my stomach turning long after the credits rolled. A haunting and grim film.