2016 Cannes Critics’ Panel Day 8: Dardennes Get Clean Bill of Health for “The Unknown Girl”

Padding their already impressive filmography as filmmakers, the Dardennes are becoming a force in auteur-driven films as producers. Landing a little everywhere in Cannes since their Croisette debut with 87’s Falsch and Directors’ Fortnight treasure La Promesse (1996), without counting their earlier docu work, Jean-Pierre and Luc have hit the ten mark with The Unknown Girl. Previously, Palme d’Or winners for Rosetta in 1999 and they would add another in 2005 with L’Enfant, the twins also nabbed the Best Screenplay award for Lorna’s Silence and The Kid with a Bike in 2011. Arguably 2014’s Two Days, One Night was among their best and with a filmography so rich, it’s hard to outdo themselves. And so, with this Dardenne bros branded detective story, we have drawn solid average score of 3s nearly across the board from our Cannes Critics’ Panel. While The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw isn’t impressed by their latest stating, that it “depends on a series of unconvincing, and in fact borderline-preposterous, encounters and features a bafflingly inert performance”. Variety’s Guy Lodge is a little more convinced about the film’s strengths and appears to think they “may not currently be working in a vein of the strictest realism, but the results still feel markedly, airily natural”. Starring Adèle Haenel, this also includes newcomer Olivier Bonnaud, Jérémie Renier and another presence from Olivier Gourmet.

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