Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

First, I should note that "La fille inconnue" ("The Unknown Girl" in English) is the first movie by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne that I've seen. What I took from it is that it has two major focuses. One is the main character's guilty conscience after learning that a young woman whom she neglected to admit to her clinic has been found dead, prompting her to find out the woman's identity. The other is the look at immigration into Europe. The victim is an immigrant from somewhere in Africa (the country is not identified).* Continuing immigration into Europe - often people fleeing terrorism - has invigorated neo-Nazi groups.As for the movie itself, it was OK not great. I would like to see other movies by the Dardennes to compare this one to them.*Off the top of my head I would guess the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire). Cast member Marc Zinga is from there. During the colonial period, King Leopold of Belgium cut off the hands of any Congolese who didn't bring back a quota of rubber.

Greetings again from the darkness. A nice story set-up is always welcome, and this one delivers a creative attention-grabber that draws us in pretty quickly. Brothers and long-time filmmaking collaborators Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne (TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT, THE KID WITH A BIKE) edited the film a bit after its Cannes screening, and the result is a quiet little whodunit with an interesting lead actress performance.A doctor and her intern have a disagreement at closing time, and opt not to answer the clinic door when a young lady rings after hours. The doctor's guilty conscience leads her to become obsessed with finding out the name of the lady when she turns up murdered the next morning. It's passionate and amateur sleuthing at its most awkward, unconventional, and dangerous.Dr Jenny Davin has recently accepted a post at the prestigious Kennedy Hospital, replacing a retiring doctor. The tragedy causes a change of mind on the job so that she may focus on the case and on continuing patient care through her clinic. The filmmakers initially wanted Marion Cotillard for the role (what filmmaker wouldn't?), but Adele Haenel (LOVE AT FIRST FIGHT) brings her own approach, and though she doesn't come across as the warmest person, it's quite apparent that she is a dedicated doctor who cares very much for her patients. Even when she tells her intern Julien (Olivier Bonnaud) that "a good doctor must control his emotions", she is ever-stoic with her delivery.The story is missing the usual Dardenne brothers' twist, and instead, at its core is an ill-advised detective story and a case of morality, guilt, and the drive to do the right thing. The house calls and open communication with doctors will confound some U.S. viewers, but the various vignettes during Dr. Davin's gumshoe work keep us engaged. The sub-plot with Dr. Davin reigniting intern Julien's passion for medicine also maintains the minimalist approach and restrained performances … all with a very grounded approach with mostly hand-held cameras.

Maybe it would have been a good movie, but for my taste has a big mistake, it's too long telling us things at the beginning that we do not care. Once presented the protagonist character, it is not necessary to see more times the same thing. There are many characters that do not tell us anything. And this only makes us bored.Adèle Haenel is fine, slightly cold for my taste, but it is that the film is very cold, too. For what counts should be what, but the problem is when the coldness is no longer achieved by photography, it does, but it gives the Dardenne brothers a movie without heart.It has a photograph that, to be French and typical French, at times, even something, but there are other moments that photography is not good.The obsession to make every plane sequence, leads to there are times when you do not see the actors, you want to make the plane in sequence about what you want to tell us and that is bad. The sequence plane is a narrative tool more, not an end. The management focuses on telling the story, but in a bad way, it does not matter the plane, the staging, photography. If you have to make an ugly camera move you do it instead of putting the camera where you should put it.I have largely remembered Citizen Kane, since it is the search for a name, only in this one, Orson if he cared that all aspects would fit well.

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.