Reviews
The Girl With The Needle
Reviewed by Vaughan Ames
A strange mix of a film last Sunday. 'The Girl with the Needle' is a Danish film which was nominated for an Oscar and many other awards around the world; it gets my nomination for the grimmest film I have ever seen, whilst being beautifully filmed and well-acted, leaving me to wonder did I like it or not..?
Shot in black and white with some amazing almost surreal facial shots, the film grabs you straight off, taking you to the VERY poor, working in a garment factory. Here we meet Karoline whose husband is assumed lost in battle. She willingly turns to the Factory owner for comfort, money and, (wished-for), marriage. When she gets pregnant, her future looks hopeful until the owner's mother steps in, and Karoline is cast out.
Desperate now, she is trying to abort the child when Dagmar stops her and tells her she can get the baby a good home. By the time the baby is born, Karoline's very war-damaged, disfigured husband has returned, but she still decides to turn to Dagmar to get the child adopted. At this point, the film becomes a bit unbelievable to me, as Karoline and Dagmar get more and more entwined running the 'adoption business'… until Karoline finally discovers where the babies are really going…
A brutal film, then, about desperation, survival, and the dark undercurrents of early 20th-century society. To make it even more harrowing, it is supposedly based on a real story. Whilst the black and white photography and the dark, foreboding lighting enhance the haunting atmosphere, it is just this unflinching depiction of such a grim topic that make it a very difficult watch indeed.
Did I like it? I had to admire the way it had been shot, and the acting was intense but I feel, as I write this later, that I can't get over just how grim it was…Ah well, women still suffer greatly around the world from unwanted babies, so maybe my minor discomfort is worth it…
Shot in black and white with some amazing almost surreal facial shots, the film grabs you straight off, taking you to the VERY poor, working in a garment factory. Here we meet Karoline whose husband is assumed lost in battle. She willingly turns to the Factory owner for comfort, money and, (wished-for), marriage. When she gets pregnant, her future looks hopeful until the owner's mother steps in, and Karoline is cast out.
Desperate now, she is trying to abort the child when Dagmar stops her and tells her she can get the baby a good home. By the time the baby is born, Karoline's very war-damaged, disfigured husband has returned, but she still decides to turn to Dagmar to get the child adopted. At this point, the film becomes a bit unbelievable to me, as Karoline and Dagmar get more and more entwined running the 'adoption business'… until Karoline finally discovers where the babies are really going…
A brutal film, then, about desperation, survival, and the dark undercurrents of early 20th-century society. To make it even more harrowing, it is supposedly based on a real story. Whilst the black and white photography and the dark, foreboding lighting enhance the haunting atmosphere, it is just this unflinching depiction of such a grim topic that make it a very difficult watch indeed.
Did I like it? I had to admire the way it had been shot, and the acting was intense but I feel, as I write this later, that I can't get over just how grim it was…Ah well, women still suffer greatly around the world from unwanted babies, so maybe my minor discomfort is worth it…
Reviewed by Vaughan Ames
Bonus Review: 25th Keswick Film Festival
What a great weekend of films! Over 3000 seats were sold (the best since the pandemic) to watch a choice of over 40 films; even showing some of these twice, the Alhambra Screen One was totally sold out five times, whilst screen Two was filled eight times! There were three Oscar winners picked before the Oscars were even announced (not to mention 'Anora' that was shown at the Club in January) plus an amazing array of International films from all over the world, including Australia, Japan, China, Iran, Palestine, Mexico and even Bhutan, not to mention the UK, Europe and USA.
The audiences came from far and wide too – Scotland, London even Dorset as well as many from Cumbria and Lancashire – and included students from Edinburgh University, Carlisle College and Birkbeck College, whilst there were three film directors and several cast members visiting over the weekend, helping to celebrate alongside several of the stalwart members of the club who had run the festival over the past 25 years.
It is impossible to pick 'the best' film – it will be different for everyone anyway – but the Audience vote gave it to 'The Marching Band' from France, scoring an incredible 93% (This is being shown at Rheged again this Sunday at 2.00pm if anyone wants to see it – I will be there!) closely followed by 'This is Going to be Big' from Australia and 'The Monk and the Gun' from Bhutan. I managed to miss all those; my favourite was the Oscar winning 'Emilia Perez' which was stunning even the second time I saw it and was one of another eight films to score over 80%.
We have to thank Ian Payne, the Festival Director, who has run it so well since 2017, but has now handed on the baton to Julia Vickers who has kindly volunteered to run it next year – 'Thank you so much Ian and very good luck, Julia - may it be even better than this year'.