I don’t even know if calling Magnus von Horn’s ‘The Girl With The Needle’ grim is the proper adjective to describe this film—perhaps a few would suffice: gloomy, dismal, and even horrifying. The black-and-white film’s dour but strikingly beautiful cinematography of Michal Dymek highlights the direness of post-World War I Copenhagen when paired with Frederikke Hoffmeier’s subtle, arresting score. This “fairy tale for adults” takes parts of a true story and centers around one woman who finds herself in continual freefall as life takes one wrong turn after another. What makes the film intriguing is it grabs you into thinking it’s about one person’s excessive plights. As soon as you get settled within that, it introduces another element that morphs into another state of despair. It will leave you wondering if the human condition lends itself to a certain amount of depravity or if the environment turns people into monsters and shadows.
Karoline (Vic Carmen Sonne) is entangled in a cavalcade of difficulties. At the end of the First World War, she works as a seamstress for little money and is forcefully evicted from her rented room. Her husband, Peter (Besir Zeciri), left to fight a soldier and hasn’t been heard from for quite some time. Even though he’s presumed dead, Karoline can’t get the widow payments because there is no sign of him. Things briefly take a turn for the better as Karoline and her boss, Jørgen (Joachim Fjelstrup), begin a relationship, and she becomes pregnant. Unsuspectically, Peter returns to her life disfigured from battle, resulting in him joining the circus. But Karoline has a new life set out for her. She’s resolute in not going back to anything prior. Before any “happily ever after” sentiment occurs, Jørgen’s mother forbids them to be together because of Karoline’s social status.
The Girl With The Needle / Photo Credit: Mubi
Thus, Karoline has seemingly lost everything with another mouth to feed on the way. That desperation drives her to the open arms of Dagmar Overbye (Trine Dyrholm), a woman who owns a coffee shop and houses an illegal adoption agency. She seeks explicitly out single mothers who feel they can’t provide a better life for their young children. From there, Karoline agrees to live with Dagmar and her “daughter” Erena (Ava Knox Martin) and work as a wet nurse. But something is highly off, and von Horn’s film will condition you to peer closer into the sudden kindness of strangers. Considering Dagmir’s real-life crimes, the heinous acts of which she was found guilty will shock you.
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There’s a version of this film that is entirely from her perspective, but von Horn elects for something more thought-provoking. Sonne does a lot with facial expressions and body language. Karoline is extremely downtrodden from life not pulling its punches – yet there is this tiny flicker of flame within her to move toward what’s right. It’s the societal outlook around her that proves to be highly restrictive. Dyrholm’s portrayal of Dagmar has a motherly yet insidious twinge to it. Inside her is a graveyard of hopes and dreams; she has committed to doing these unspeakable acts to ” relieve burdens” because of that.
Once Karoline and Dagmar cross paths with Erena as a bridge of their humanity, ‘The Girl With The Needle’s dire fable fully begins to take shape. It’s not making excuses for the unforgivable, well-chronicled acts but also highlighting an absolute void of hope. At one point, Dagmar tells Karoline, “The world is a horrible place, but we need to believe it’s not so.” Those words will eventually have different meanings as the film reveals true motivations. We know of the ravages of being in war and the way it can tear you apart both physically and mentally. But there’s something to be said for those left at home – especially from the perspective of women who are left to steer the ship, but are given so little in return.
