"The Unknown Woman" is a peculiar and nearly unclassifiable film from Italy; usually my favorite movie-producing country when it comes to thrillers, horror and cult movies. The plot slowly unfolds like a grim and mystifying thriller with authentic Giallo and sleaze aspects, but gradually turns into an overly sentimental drama with a disappointing soap-opera denouement. Not that this is a bad film (how can it be with all the prestigious awards it received?) but if you were hoping for a perplexing thriller, your hunger will not be stilled. Giuseppe Tornatore, the director of the legendary "Cinema Paradiso", presents an extremely convoluted and oddly structured story, but shares only very little information with the viewer. "The Unknown Woman" remains a labyrinth until quite late in the film, and then still you remain behind with a whole lot of questions and illogicalness. The events jump back and forth between the curious mission of a Ukrainian woman in Italy and the traumatizing adventures of a blond-wigged prostitute in a pauperized neighborhood. It honestly takes a little while before you're a hundred percent certain this is one and the same person. But yes, the elegant and sophisticated 32-year-old Irena apparently spent most of her teenage years and twenties in the East-European sex industry. She now attempts to infiltrate as a governess/maid in a wealthy Italian household, but it's not immediately clear why. She clearly doesn't need the money, as she has a roll of cash in her pocket and promptly affords herself an apartment and driving lessons, but nevertheless she's desperate enough to even assault the current nanny in order to take her place in the Adacher family. Approximately halfway through, the attentive viewer begins to suspect where the main storyline is leading towards, but then there still are plenty enough bizarre twists to keep you contemplating. It would be a shame to reveal too much beforehand, but rest assured the questions and doubts will keep coming to you long after the film has finished as well. Purely talking from a cinematic point of view, "The Unknown Woman" is an enchanting and ultimately stylish experiment. Tornatore creates a hypnotizing melancholic atmosphere through slow pacing and depressing imagery (there are hardly any colors in this film) and Ennio Morricone once more proved that he's still the world's greatest composer of chilling film music; even at age 78. Wondrous performances from lead actresses Xenia Rappoport and Claudia Gerini and particularly from Michele Placido as the genuinely menacing and terrifying bald pimp Muffa.
Review of The Unknown Woman
