THE UNKNOWN WOMAN
Starring Kseniya Rappoport, Clara Dossena. Written and directed by Giuseppe Tornatore. (18A) 118 min. Opens May 9.
To say that The Unknown Woman represents a change of pace for Giuseppe (Cinema Paradiso) Tornatore is an understatement; call it Giuseppe Goes Giallo. From its bracing first scene, in which a series of naked young women in Eyes Wide Shut–style masks are paraded for our stunned delectation, the film continually kneecaps our expectations; a lot of it doesn’t work, but its cocktail of lurid, Argento-inflected thrillerisms, all-stops-pulled melodrama and despairing social commentary proves potent.
Irena (Kseniya Rappoport) is a thirtysomething Ukrainian émigré trying to make ends meet in a northern Italian town; after scoring a job as a maid in a high-end apartment complex, she inveigles herself into the lives of an unhappy couple and their young daughter. The means by which she does this are frankly shocking — the movie is barely 20 minutes old before Tornatore dares us to break faith with his protagonist. That we remain on side speaks to the slow-burn narrative construction and also Rappoport’s haunted performance, which gives credibility to the character’s over-cranked backstory. There are several baroquely mean-spirited touches (such as a brutal assault perpetrated by a pair of street corner Santa Claus stand-ins), but for all its sadistic brio, the film is finally a sentimental account of little girls lost and found.