With her husband missing in action, Karoline (Vic Carmen Sonne), a young seamstress, struggles to survive in post-WWI Copenhagen. An affair with the owner of the clothing factory she works at brings temporary relief from her poverty, but leads to still worse complications. Left with few other options, she turns to a charismatic candy shop owner, Dagmar (Trine Dyrholm), who offers special services to women in need. But as it turns out, the woman’s placid façade hides deeper layers of disquiet.
Inspired by the real-life story of one of Denmark’s most infamous serial killers, The Girl with the Needle renders this true-crime story as an expressionist fairytale, with a nightmarish atmosphere reminiscent of Tod Browning and Carl Theodor Dreyer. Featuring lustrous black-and-white cinematography, an ominous soundscape, and bolstered by fearless performances by Sonne and Dryholm, it is a chilling, unforgettable look at the horrors that people are capable of—as well as the social conditions that make them possible.
Vic Carmen Sonne, Trine Dyrholm, Besir Zeciri, Avo Knox Martin, Joachim Fjelstrup
Denmark/Poland/Sweden
2024
In Danish with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Credits
Producer
Malene Blenkov, Mariusz Włodarski
Screenwriter
Magnus von Horn, Line Langebek
Cinematography
Michał Dymek
Editor
Agnieszka Glińska
Production Design
Jagna Dobesz
Magnus von Horn
Magnus von Horn was born in 1983 in Göteborg, Sweden but has lived for almost 20 years in Poland. A graduate of the Polish National Film School in Lodz where he is also currently a teacher. With his short films, he established himself internationally as a promising director presenting at festivals such as Sundance and Locarno. Finding it inspiring to work in different languages his feature film debut, The Here After, was in Swedish and premiered at Director’s Fortnight in Cannes 2015. His second feature film, Sweat, was in Polish and part of the Cannes official selection in 2020. His third film, The Girl With the Needle, is a Nordisk Film Production and is in Danish.
Filmography: The Here After (2015); Sweat (2020)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Pulp Fiction + The ReViberators
In the spirit of Quentin Tarantino, we're going to launch our summer series 90s, Baby! smack in the middle, with 1994's Pulp Fiction, the most exciting and influential movie of its era. On 35mm. Preceded by surf guitar sensations The ReViberators live!
Madonna: Truth or Dare
A year in the life of Madonna at the height of her fame, touring Blonde Ambition through 1990. There's concert footage, but the movie is also daringly truthful about life behind the scenes — not that Madonna is every really off-stage.
Hanami
On the volcanic island Cape Verde, young Nana is on the cusp of self-discovery. When her long-absent mother returns, the lyricism and magic of Nana's childhood take a different shape. Winner of the Best Emerging Director Award, Locarno Film Festival.
Total Recall
The master of the subversive blockbuster, Paul Verhoeven concocts a film about corporate mind-control vs. revolutionary uprising by setting it on Mars and allowing for the possibility the whole thing is just an escapist fantasy...