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PRODUCTION Belgium

The Dardenne brothers shooting La Fille inconnue

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- The siblings have surrounded Adèle Haenel with a host of regular cast members, including Fabrizio Rongione, Thomas Doret, Morgan Marinne, Olivier Gourmet and Christelle Cornil

The Dardenne brothers shooting La Fille inconnue
Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne

Having kicked off last week in and around Liège, the shoot for La Fille inconnue [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
film profile
]
(lit. "The Unknown Girl"), the tenth feature by Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, is now in full swing. In it, we follow the path trodden by Jenny, a young GP, who feels guilty about not having opened the door of her surgery to a young girl who was then found dead a short while later. Having learned from the police that the young girl’s identity is a mystery, Jenny sets out on a quest to find out her name. During her search, the doctor will gradually unearth the truth.

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We can sense a slight reorientation in the topic tackled by the Dardennes in this film. While we may be used to seeing them depict the journeys undertaken by struggling, determined women (in the recent Two Days, One Night [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne
film profile
]
, but also in Rosetta, The Silence of Lorna [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Arta Dobroshi
interview: Arta Dobroshi
interview: Jean-Pierre et Luc Dardenne
interview: Olivier Bronckart
film profile
]
and, to a certain extent, The Kid with a Bike [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
film profile
]
), the focus here is no longer on a labourer, a hairdresser or an illegal immigrant, but rather on a doctor. Nevertheless, as you might imagine, Jenny comes across some familiar faces from the Dardenne universe as her search progresses. They are familiar owing to their characters’ fates, but also because they are played by actors who happen to be stalwarts in the brothers’ filmography. And so we find regulars Fabrizio Rongione (the hero of Rosetta and Two Days, One Night) and Olivier Gourmet (who has appeared in all of the Dardennes’ films since La Promesse) among the cast members, as well as Thomas Doret (the surprise revelation of The Kid with a Bike), Morgan Marinne (ditto in The Son [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
) and Christelle Cornil (a new arrival since Two Days, One Night). They rub shoulders with newcomer Adèle Haenel, the French actress who recently won a César Award for Love at First Fight [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Thomas Cailley
film profile
]
.

There will perhaps be a change in the movie’s style as well. While some kind of search (often for a job) is a regular motif in the Dardennes’ films, here it has been transformed into a police inquiry, even though one has a sneaking suspicion that this investigation could be an excuse to reveal a specific personal destiny.

As usual, the movie is being produced by the brothers’ company, Les Films du Fleuve, and is being co-produced in France by Archipel 35. The film will be sold by Wild Bunch, and distributed by Diaphana in France and by Cinéart in Belgium. The shoot will wrap on 22 December – just in time, perhaps, to envisage yet another selection for Cannes…

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(Translated from French)

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