Both eerie and exquisite, writer-director Magnus von Horn's latest film tracks young factory worker Karoline as she struggles to survive in post-WWI Copenhagen. When she ends up unemployed, abandoned and pregnant, the charismatic Dagmar takes her in to help run an underground adoption agency for unwanted children. The two women form an unexpected bond, until a sudden revelation changes everything. Based on a chilling true story, The Girl with the Needle presents a masterful gothic vision with profound contemporary resonance.

The Garden Cinema View:

The Girl with the Needle - Denmark's entry for the 2025 Academy Awards - is an unsettling fairy tale based on one of the country’s darkest chapters. Writer-director Magnus von Horn transforms this piece of Danish crime history into a bleak meditation on those marginalised by society. The eerie effect is aided by some uncanny and grotesque sequences exquisitely crafted by cinematographer Michał Dymek (EO). Faces and surfaces are seedily textured and the imagery veers towards the abject, evoking the work of Francisco Goya, Joel-Peter Witkin, and early David Lynch. For those who appreciate forms of art that explore alienation and the macabre, this is an essential, singular vision. For maximum impact, viewers are advised to experience the film's shocking narrative without prior research.

Cast:
Vic Carmen Sonne, Trine Dyrholm, Besir Zeciri, Joachim Fjelstrup