S.L.I.F.F. Review: ‘The Unknown Woman’

Jeremy:

It has been nearly 20 years since Giuseppe Tornatore directed his masterpiece, ‘Cinema Paradiso’, one of the most moving cinematic events this critic has ever experienced. Â  Since then, he has directed some decent yet forgettable films that never really supplanted nor even came up to the level of his earlier effort. Â  With ‘The Unknown Woman’, he takes his direction into the realm of Hitchcock. Â  That is, in subject matter only. Â  As far as execution, ‘The Unknown Woman’ isn’t quite on par with Hitchcock, but how can you really expect that?

‘The Unknown Woman’ is about a Ukrainian woman, Irena, played by the mature and hauntingly simplistic Xenia Rappoport, who moves to a city in northern Italy. Â  She works as a cleaning lady, yet she begins stalking the members of a well of family. Â  Irena quickly maneuvers herself, violently at times, into the position of nanny for the family’s daughter. Â  Who is this woman? Â  Why is she paying special attention to this family? Â  How far is she willing to go? Â  These are all questions that make up the backbone of this film’s story.

The less said about Irena’s past the better. Â  It is very clear early on as to where certain story arcs are going. Â  We are shown quick instances of flashbacks into Irena’s past, and most of it, as a puzzle, is easy to piece together. Â  In fact, as a mystery, ‘The Unknown Woman’ is nothing breathtaking. Â  There are certain “surprises” that come off half-cocked and not all together thought out. Â  The unraveling of the film’s mystery is not dealt with as tightly as you would hope, and, to that end, the story is nothing extraordinary.

Tornatore’s direction, on the other hand, is something to behold. Â  He has a way of holding the camera on certain characters or things, and, without movement, they seem to come to life. Â  Early on, we are shown an upward shot of a spiraling stairwell. Â  It’s a steady shot, and, in all honesty, it’s not a very innovative shot. Â  However, the spiral seems to be moving, and, for a split second, you get a sense of vertigo. Â  Tornatore, along with his cinematographer, Fabio Zamarion, is able to craft some beautiful shots while dealing with things that are otherwise commonplace or even boring.

Add to this the combination of Rappoport’s incredible performance and the beautiful music brought to us by the legendary Ennio Morricone, and you see the potential that ‘The Unknown Woman’ has. Â  Books are written about how incredibly articulate and moving Morricone’s music is. Â  With this film, he doesn’t hold back one bit, and it’s some of the most astonishing movie music heard all year.

Unfortunately, the story gets in the way of all of that. Â  The first half of the film is slow bordering on monotonous. Â  We are supposed to be trying all this time to figure out what is going on and who this woman really is, but those answers are easily sorted out far too quickly. Â  The second half of the film is where the tension is supposed to have been turned up to 11, but that isn’t the case either. Â  Instead, we are left dealing with a number of plot holes and certain character motivations that just seem downright ludicrous.

  ‘The Unknown Woman’ is a film that is beautiful to look at and beautiful to listen to.   Unfortunately, the faulty screenplay behind it doesn’t make the film that beautiful to think about.   In fact, ‘The Unknown Woman’ is a film whose story you will probably forget soon after leaving the theater.   As a director, Tornatore is still far above most others working today.   He just needs an above average script to guide him.

[Overall: 2.5 stars out of 5]

Festival Screening Date: Friday, November 14 @ 9:30 pm + Saturday, November 15 @ 6:45 pm (Frontenac)