The Girl with the Needle (2024)

The Girl with the Needle (2024). 2h 3m | Unrated

“u0026quot;The Girl with the Needleu0026quot; is an upsetting film based on true events that contains some almost unbearable scenes of violence perpetrated against babies. The movie is about Karoline, a desperate woman who gives her baby up for adoption and then joins the black market baby adoption ring run by Dagmar, played in a mesmerizing and award-worthy performance by the actress Trine Dyrholm. Though Karoline is the filmu0026#39;s central character and events are told through her perspective, itu0026#39;s Dyrholm who walks away with this movie, managing to make a baby killer not an entirely horrific character, and even to a certain extent leading us to a place where we understand her motives even if we find her actions unconscionable. It takes a seriously good actress to pull off that feat.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe film looks and sounds like a horror movie. It reminded me at times of both u0026quot;The Elephant Manu0026quot; and u0026quot;The White Ribbon,u0026quot; not because of its story in either case, but because of its visual style for the former, and its tone for the latter.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eGrade: A-“