Listen. This is the first word spoken in Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardennes’ latest masterpiece, a parabolic moral mystery that is at-once quite ordinary in terms of its genre conventions, yet extraordinary in its formal brilliance and ethical considerations.
Listen. The speaker is Jenny (Adèle Haenel), a youthful, ambitious doctor who serves her working-class patients with rich empathy and a sense of purpose.
When a young woman who tried to enter Jenny’s medical clinic after hours is found dead nearby, the tragedy prompts Jenny to search for answers in this social-realism-meets-film-noir tale of suspense and sympathy. In our present age of technological mediation and online political conflict, The Unknown Girl reminds us of the immense power of seeing another human being’s face, looking a person in the eyes, and experiencing the warmth of appropriate embrace.
Listen. We are invited to not only listen, but to see, to touch, to feel, to notice and sense the presence of the imago dei. The Dardennes’ style of realism paves the way towards the transcendent; in seeing the actual humanity of the Other, we may also encounter the divine. In this, we may begin to genuinely love our neighbors as ourselves.
—Joel Mayward, Cinemayward
Arts & Faith Lists:
2017 Arts & Faith Ecumenical Jury — #1