Keswick Film Club - The Girl With The Needle

Synopsis

Set in Denmark in the post-world war one 1920s, this is based on a true story and was nominated for the Palme d'Or at Cannes. "It is about a world in which women's lives are disposable and in which the authorities are disapproving of and disgusted by their suffering – and set at a time in which the first world war had normalised the idea of mass murder" – Peter Bradshaw, Guardian.

We are following the life of poverty-stricken seamstress Karoline, whose husband is missing, presumed dead. She has a steamy affair with the factory manager and ends up pregnant. Although he says he will marry her, his mother will not allow it and Karoline has the choice of performing an abortion (with the needle of the title) or being an unmarried mother. At this point she meets Dagmar, a shopkeeper, who tells her she can get babies adopted, for a fee…

"At the heart of this lies von Horn's direction, his impeccable screenplay co-written with Line Langebek and, perhaps most of all, the casting of Sonne herself at the complex, troubled Karoline. Sonne had already proven herself particularly adept in bringing to life nuanced, complicated characters as the lead in in Isabella Eklöf's jaw-dropping 'Holiday' (2018), and 'The Girl with the Needle' only further consolidates her status as a performer with extraordinary courage and talent. 'The Girl with the Needle' is a great film to begin with, but with Sonne at the helm it becomes something truly special and wholly unique" – Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Alliance of Women Film Journalists.