‘The Girl with the Needle’ Movie Review - Magnus von Horn’s Thin, Lethargic Drama

The characters, in some way or other, experience eviction in Magnus von Horn's The Girl with the Needle. During the opening scenes, Karoline (Vic Carmen Sonne) is forced to move out of her apartment (she has not been paying the rent). Karoline falls in love with Jørgen (Joachim Fjelstrup), her boss, has sex with him, and becomes pregnant. When he takes her to his house to introduce her to his mother, the matriarch, after verifying Karolin's pregnancy, orders her to leave her house as well as her son. Peter (Besir Zeciri), Karolin's husband, returns from the war with a mutilated face, which he hides with a mask. Karolin is disgusted by his presence and tells him to get out of her house. The Girl with the Needle, then, becomes a story about finding home and comfort in a hellish Copenhagen. It's not just the adult characters like Karoline and Peter who are vulnerable. The kids turn out to be closer to death, to danger. The woman who comes to buy Karoline's apartment at the beginning of the film carries a child with her. This little girl receives a slap from her mother when she starts crying and complaining (Karoline spooks her with frightening stories about large rats that bite people's feet at night). Then there are newborn babies who get separated from their homes and their families because their parents don't have sufficient money. The mothers take their babies to a woman named Dagmar (Trine Dyrholm), who promises them that she will give their kids to foster families (doctors, lawyers, etc.). The infants, however, end up being placed in peril.

Magnus von Horn, with writer Line Langebek, lays down all the dots, and we connect them in our minds. But von Horn is merely good at plotting things like a strategist. He's inept at handling drama and fails to join the narrative threads satisfyingly. As Peter carries the crib up the stairs, Karolin secretly runs away with the baby to hand him over to Dagmar. What happens between Karolin and Peter after this? She starts staying with Dagmar while the latter returns to the circus. Does he wait for his wife? Does he try searching for her outside? Later, we get a scene where Peter asks Karolin about the baby, but it feels like von Horn is filling up a gap instead of flaming curiosity. The characters don't inquire about each other's lives or ask how they spent their days and if they missed the other person's company. The director is only interested in elements that fulfill plot duties. Karolin, after making plans to marry Jørgen, tells Frida (Tessa Hoder) that she will invite her to stay with her and offer her the power to manage the servants. This moment is inserted to increase Karolin's pain during the scene where her plans are thwarted by Jørgen's mother. At another point, Karolin and Frida meet outside so that the latter can learn about Dagmar's services and move the story forward at the required time. Karolin and Frida never discuss their dreams, ambitions, or history. The director only uses their friendship as a cog in the plot machine.

Is Erena (Avo Knox Martin) Dagmar's real daughter or a "job" she couldn't complete? Should we consider Erena's action of suffocating a baby as something Dagmar has taught her to do to continue the "family business?" Or is her action purely motivated by jealousy? Von Horn isn't interested in digging deep. Dagmar's boyfriend threatens Karolin by saying that what she's doing is illegal and that he will expose the deals related to the babies. If this business is illegal, what measures do the ladies take to conceal themselves from the authorities? How do they advertise their services to the people in need? Does Dagmar always meet her clients accidentally?

Watching The Girl with the Needle doesn't feel any different from watching von Horn's last film, Sweat. At first, you are drawn in by the rhythms and the beauty of the scenes. As the movie progresses, you realize that these attractions are merely superficial - there is nothing beneath the gloss of colors and commendable performances. The black-and-white images of this film look pleasing (cinematography by Michał Dymek), but it's nothing but picture postcard beauty. The director sees Copenhagen as a mere backdrop for the story. He captures the people and the buildings like an Instagram enthusiast, seeking pictures for his posts and for likes. Carmen Sonne, as Karolin, has sunken eyes and wrinkles on her forehead that become apparent whenever she shoots up her eyes. With bones that seem to pop out of her skin, Karolin's face appears exhausted and dehydrated even when she's smiling. This weariness is so palpable that Karolin's face becomes the face of this film. The Girl with the Needle is mostly lethargic and receives a few jolts of energy only when von Horn displays Dagmar as a devil or when he dispenses shocks through moments like the one where Erena attempts to kill a baby. One senses that von Horn throws Karolin in Dagmar's direction because he gets bored by her relationship with Jørgen. The way in which Jørgen, Frida, and Peter disappear from the screen for long stretches of time proves that von Horn is confined within the narrow constraints of the script. He tosses in thoughts regarding sisterhood, motherhood, and foster families but never develops any of these things substantially. The movie, alas, is as thin as that needle Karolin uses to "take care" of her pregnancy.

Final Score- [4.5/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
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Publisher at Midgard Times