The Girl with the Needle (Magnus von Horn, 2024, Denmark/Poland/Sweden/France/Belgium)

The Girl with the Needle is the latest film from Swedish director Magnus von Horn. Inspired by true events, the film tells the story of Karoline, a Danish woman living in Copenhagen in 1919. After various personal tragedies (including a disfigured husband from the war), Karoline ends up working for Dagmar, an older woman who runs a secretive adoption agency. As the film progresses, the truth about Dagmar will be revealed, and Karoline will be forced to reconcile her work for her.

Horn's film is striking first of all for its visual palette. Painterly in its approach, the film also evokes turn-of-the-century photography of working-class life from the likes of Jacob Riis. The black and white cinematography by Michał Dymek is highly evocative of early David Lynch, notably Eraserhead but also The Elephant Man. There are a number of visual and thematic parallels to The Elephant Man. Despite the real issues at the film's core, von Horn takes an approach to the material which elevates into a more stylized realm. There are a number of visual flourishes in the film that suggest the fractured mental state of our protagonist.

The Girl with the Needle avoids becoming a pure exercise in human misery because of the mystery at its core. We know from the beginning that something is "off" with Dagmar, but her true nature is only revealed toward the end. The film also challenges us to sympathize with a number of characters, including Dagmar, who under other circumstances would be highly unsympathetic. Von Horn manages to maintain a great level of tonal control here, keeping the film grounded in Karoline's plight while also hinting at deeper psychological questions. In this regard, the film evokes many of Ingmar Bergman's female-driven psychodramas such as Persona and Cries and Whispers. We are eager to see more films from Magnus von Horn.

8/10