The Girl with the Needle (Pigen med nålen)

“You’ve done the right thing.” is the comforting platitude that Dagmar (Trine Dyrholm) has prepped when she accepts a baby for her to send for fostering. The Girl with the Needle is based on the true actions of said Dagmar, though Magnus von Horn’s film co-written with Line Langebek Knudsen sets that story within one just as grim and could be one of Grimms’ fairy tales.

Set at the tail end of the First World War, Karoline (Vic Carmen Sonne) is a seamstress whose husband is lost in battle. But with no death certificate she’s not entitled to a widow’s pension. Forced out of her rooms into a property which has a bucket as the toilet, matters are getting desperate.

An affair with the director of her employer, pregnancy and a promise of marriage lifting her from her wretched life, are dashed. The director’s mother threatens him with disinheritance, so he abandons Karoline who is summarily sacked.

An attempted abortion is stopped by Dagmar who tells her to bring the baby to her at the first opportunity. Complicating matters is the return of her husband Peter (Besir Zeciri) terribly scarred from the war, he joins a travelling carnival (freak show).

Karoline takes the newborn to Dagmar to be fostered. Still lactating Karoline takes on the role of wet nurse for ‘daughter’ Erena (Ava Knox Martin) and others. Gradually Karoline becomes more involved in Dagmar’s bleak world and outlook.

The Girl with the Needle neatly fits into three parts as Karoline and Dagmar’s lives join, run-together then split. Running through it all are the images of a dilapidated Copenhagen in the early 20th century (actually shot in Poland). The city is shown as virtually derelict; the poverty grinding with people open for exploitation. Either by the wealthy or the likes of Dagmar preying on the desperate.

Its unrelentingly grim with some truly bizarre and harrowing scenes, the black and white photography is unforgiving. That along with scenes of workers leaving the factory give the film a rare authenticity that of contemporary footage.

The film opens with a hallucinogenic sequence that is replayed later on when Karoline is introduced to Ether. Yet it only provides an escape from one nightmarish horror to another.

The cast are all outstanding and the reason to pick out Sonne and Dryholm is because they have much of the screentime. Their unsteady friendship, that looks doomed from the start to all eyes, is tragically presented with great subtlety, yet instilling a feeling of unease and at times revulsion.

The film looks incredible the period details of buildings, objects and clothing exquisitely realised. It’s perfectly complemented by a sublime score by Frederikke Hoffmeir almost discordant she draws and blends sounds with dark electronica.

The Girl with the Needle will be in UK and Irish cinemas on 10 January 2025.