The Unknown Woman

I felt a rejecting attitude toward the film very strongly, so much so that after 35 minutes I ran out of patience and watched the ending to get an idea of whether it was worth finishing it. I rarely do this, and it's similar to reading the ending of a short story and only then, after approving it, going back to the beginning. Some flashbacks bothered me and surprisingly, Morricone's music didn't sit well with me for the first time. I understand why the film has a high rating, as it's essentially an ideal product for audiences at film festivals and film clubs. Tornatore did not make a typical genre film with a criminal plot about the sexual exploitation of women from the East, but a film where he tries for artistic transcendence. Unfortunately, given that even after an hour I didn't know whether I found the main character annoying or whether I should be cheering for him or sympathizing with him, one can't really expect any enthusiasm from me. Overall impression: 45%. (11/10/2010)

I haven't seen a psychological thriller this rough in a long time. Tornatore doesn't mess around with anything too much and from the very first minutes he serves up a raw, drastic life portrait of an Eastern immigrant trying to normalize her life in Italy, at least a little bit. The plot has plenty of supporting themes and subplots, which positively adds to the psychological depth of the story. I honestly can't think of many similar films where the psyche of the main character is subjected to such deep analysis. The Unknown Woman is a multi-layered psychological film in which a complex picture of the main character is gradually built up through disturbing flashbacks and present drives (also burdened and determined by the past). It's quite atmospheric at times, but also a very unpleasant spectacle. A strong 4 stars. (27/04/2019)

Chilling. Three names. Giuseppe Tornatore, Ennio Morricone, Kseniya Alexandrovna Rappoport. All the pages of “War and Peace" would not be long enough to contain all my praise for Tornatore’s (already traditionally) powerful screenplay, not to speak of the direction. Morricone’s composition also deserves a mention; it is one of his best works. I could praise Rappoport’s performance to the heavens, but not only would that tell you very little of the movie, but also it would be unfair to all the rest of the cast. It is all absolutely superfluous, however. The important thing is one piece of information. That even after an absence of six years, Tornatore is still the best and most reliable filmmaker on the continent of Europe. No reservations, no discussion, he’ way out in front. ♫ OST score: 5/5 (24/03/2008)

Thanks to the constant inflow of new facts that force us to reassess what we already know, The Unknown Woman is a thriller that doesn’t surprise the viewer once or twice, but regularly every ten minutes. For example, the multiple changes in genre that the film undergoes are unexpected. This is only seemingly a psychological drama based on the rape/revenge formula (at least at the beginning, it has nothing to do with rape or revenge). The roles of victim and culprit are relativised several times and it is impossible to unambiguously determine who harmed whom more. There are practically no scenes in the film that wouldn’t enrich the narrative. Nor do the flashbacks serve to exploit the depiction of the brutality perpetrated against the female protagonist (besides her body, details of her identity are also revealed). Tornatore conceals and reveals information with Hitchcockian precision. He knows when to leave out a particular fact in the interest of intensifying the moment of surprise and, conversely, when to show us more in order to ratchet up the tension (interior shots with multiple characters and extreme depth of field, which optically deforms the spatial distance between the characters). Furthermore, he presumes that viewers are willing to do their own detective work. He doesn’t repeat or fully clarify important information. This uncertainty then forces us to formulate our own hypotheses, on which one of the film’s biggest surprises is based (keywords: curly hair). If the director manipulates us, it’s in the interest of intensifying the surprise and identification with the protagonist. Every detail is subordinated to dramatic tension, on which everything depends more than on plausibility and realism. Also, the outwardly very cheap narrative manoeuvre when the protagonist tells a certain passive character (and thus also tells us) about her actions is skilfully put to good use in the end. The spiral structure, emphasised by repeated shots of a spiral staircase, elevates this delightfully suspenseful genre movie to the level of contemplation of the degree to which our past decisions determine the decisions that we will make in the future and whether we would dare to consider all possible consequences before making any life decision. 80% (23/04/2013)