Annual Top Films Lists

Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2016: #1. Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne’s La Fille inconnue

Published on January 14, 2016

La Fille inconnue

Directors: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
Writers: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne

The two-time Palme d’Or winning Belgian duo Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (Rosetta; L’Enfant) take our top spot for most anticipated foreign film of 2016. Like their last two features, the directors have cast a well-known actress, Adèle Haenel (recently winning her second Cesar for Love at First Fight) for their latest feature, La Fille inconnue (The Unknown Girl) (Cecile de France centered 2011’s Kid with a Bike while Marion Cotillard mastered 2014’s Two Days, One Night). Haenel stars as a young general practitioner who feels severe guilt about not providing surgery for a young woman who is found dead a short while after. Confirming the girl’s identity is a mystery, the GP is determined to find out what happened and who she is.

Cast: Adèle Haenel, Jeremie Renier, Thomas Doret, Olivier Gourmet, Fabrizio Rongione, Christelle Cornil

Production Co./Producers: Les Films du Fleuve, Archipel 35

U.S. Distributor: Rights available TBD (domestic) Wild Bunch (International)

Release Date: Since winning the Palme d’Or in 1999 for Rosetta, every single one of their features has competed at Cannes. The Unknown Girl will most likely be their seventh time competing out of their ten title filmography.

Nicholas Bell

Los Angeles based Nicholas Bell is IONCINEMA.com's Chief Film Critic and covers film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Cannes and TIFF. He is part of the critic groups on Rotten Tomatoes, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and GALECA. His top 3 for 2021: France (Bruno Dumont), Passing (Rebecca Hall) and Nightmare Alley (Guillermo Del Toro). He was a jury member at the 2019 Cleveland International Film Festival.