07/09/2026 - VENICE 2026: May el-Toukhy offers up one of the nastier takes on World War II liberation euphoria

Among the main competition titles at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, May el-Toukhy's Woman Unknown ranks among the buzzier ones, partly on account of it being the one competition entry by a woman (although the late addition Naza, co-directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, ups that number to at least one and a half, or possibly even two), and additionally because it takes on the darker sides of national pride – at its finest hour, at that. These Danish images of liberation are quite on par with Lars von Trier – at his nastiest hour, at that.

We've seen those euphoric liberation pictures from 1945, with the grand avenues of Paris, New York or Oslo overflowing with people, the lights glowing again after all those curfews, with ecstatic cheering and flag-waving going on, and at times spontaneous kissing, like the sailor and the nurse in Times Square – a picture that's recently generated a discussion on consent, or the lack of it. Also opening up for further examination are the various acts of post-war vigilantism, such as hunting down informers, smashing the shops of businesses that traded with the enemy, and parading and shaving the heads of women who had relationships with occupying soldiers. Denmark is said to have had around 50,000 of these “horizontal collaborators” during World War II. Woman Unknown – playing out over five days – is about one of them, who is currently preparing for her wedding.

For Marie (Mathilde Arcel, in a star-making turn) has done well, serving in the home of widowed glove manufacturer Christian (Carsten Bjørnlund) and his young daughter Leonora (Lora Yde Sander) as maid and nanny. With time, Marie has proven herself indispensable, and Christian has asked for her hand in marriage. He may not be her great love (their sex life causes some genital discomfort), but Marie cherishes her Copenhagen upper-bourgeoisie environment, taking care of Leonora and having gained a good friend in Ms Berg next door, a single mother whose infant son Marie sometimes looks after. Stretching out before her lies a comfortable life in a Denmark “atter frit” – “once again free”, as the legendary Danish-language London news bulletin ended on 4 May 1945.

But impending concurrently are the aforementioned vigilante actions – liquidating “snitches”, confronting complicit businesses and publicly shaming “Jerrybags”, as the English called them – all coming across, perversely, as equally euphoric through el-Toukhy's vision. In some memorable scenes, she almost has her lensman, Jasper Spanning, create art installations out of the “rituals”, as witnessed by Marie with shock and disgust, likely thanking some higher power for having kept her secret safely hidden. For Marie is a small-town girl a long way from home, free from her past in this big city.

Then, as fate and a malicious film script would have it, that very same past rears its ugly head, closing in like a wildfire. Cornered and facing collapse, Marie opts for some desperate measures, again abetted by el-Toukhy and her regular co-writer Maren Louise Käehne, whose choices recall their previous collaboration Queen of Hearts, possibly suggesting that film and this one as the first two parts of a trilogy.

It's powerful cinema, powerfully written, acted and visualised. And it’s powerfully nasty, too.

Woman Unknown was produced by Nordisk Film Production A/S (Denmark), with co-production by SIA Nafta Films (Latvia) and Nordisk Film Production Sweden. Its world sales are entrusted to TrustNordisk ApS.