Woman Unknown

Yeah, their silent friend, too.

Woman Unknown won the Venice Golden Lion.

Yeah.

There's so many options.

And I also, I was, I had this on a watch list to watch because I saw that it got good reviews at Venice, but it was one of those, it was on the viewing library at home and I was just like, oh, I'm probably not, you know, I'll get around to it when I get around to it.

The film that I was going to see when this was playing, a physical screening, was a Woman Unknown, the Venice Golden Lion winner.

But that sold out.

I couldn't get a ticket, so I just took a punt and watched this instead.

Oh, I think I've seen that person's previous movie, Taste, actually.

Woman Unknown, A Day in the Life of Joe, Act.

Yeah, I got cut off there for some weird reason.

So Act 3 is another one by Irish filmmaking duo Christine Malloy and Joel Lawler.

Yeah.

And it was Woman Unknown, directed by Maélle Tuky.

I walked out thinking I had had one of the most bea- beautiful visual experiences ever.

I found it so powerful.

Okay.

Let's start with Mathilde Arcel in the film Woman Unknown.

Such a good film.

Directed by May Eltuki, and it is set in post-war Copenhagen, specifically 1946.

Uh, the next bonus category, some international film hopefuls.

Uh, Woman Unknown, this is the, uh, Den- Danish submission.

It also won, uh, the Golden Lion at Venice, so it actually n- is nominated by two different ways.

Um, Every Time, I-- the German submission I've heard is very good.

Um, but yeah, the bonus films again, just from w- from top to bottom, Behemoth, Being Human, I Play Rocky, Club Kid, Artificial for best picture hopefuls.

Above the line hopefuls, Misty Green, Paper Tiger, Ink, Josephine, Social Reckoning.

Uh, international hopefuls, Woman Unknown, Every Time, Silent Friend, To Hold a Mountain, Filipiniana.

And then below the line sickos, uh, we'll look out for Backrooms, Michael, Ebenezer, Wicker, and another song nominee like Power Ballad or Musk.

at $0.32, Coward at $0.38.

They don't have Woman Unknown, which just won Venice, which is stacking up to be a much heavier contender, in my opinion, than we originally thought.

So that's kind of nine films... really vying for five spots that are the big-name films right now of an international feature, so I'm curious to see how that shakes out.

But we have best picture contenders in La Bola Negra, Fjord, all of a sudden in that mix as well, to your point.

And we'll start with two people who, at the time we spoke to them, had no idea just how their festival would end.

Mai Iltuki's Woman Unknown takes us to the aftermath of the Second World War, where Marie, a young nanny and housemaid, is about to marry the wealthy widower she works for.

But her relationship with a German soldier during the war threatens a new life she is trying to build.

The film would go on to win the Golden Lion, while its leading actress, Matilda Arcel, received the Coppa Volpi for Best Actress.

So, jumping across the Atlantic to going into Venice, because Venice gives out more proper, like, juried awards.

And the winner of the Golden Lion this year is... a movie called Woman Unknown, a movie that was also at TIFF, and a movie that I just, being very blunt, do not feel like is actually in any sort of the awards conversation.

I feel like it was just Maggie Gyllenhaal and co. trying to pat themselves on the back a little bit when there was a lot of conversation around the fact that they were not platforming films made by women.

Yuck.