Start the week with a film: ‘The Girl with the Needle’ is a superbly crafted, haunting fable

The Girl with the Needle begins with a creepy montage of faces meshing into each other. It’s 1919. The chaos caused by the recently concluded World War I retains its power to unsettle lives.

Karoline (Vic Carmen Sonne) is struggling to get by. Just when Karoline seems set to put her old life behind her, things go belly-up. Her missing husband Peter returns, most of his face blown off as a reward for having served in the war. And Karoline is pregnant with her lover.

Dagmar (Trine Dyrholm), who promises to find families for babies born out of wedlock, seems to be the answer. Karoline is soon going to learn what exactly happens to the infants handed over to Dagmar.

The Danish-language production, which is out on MUBI, ranks as one of the most unusual films about a woman’s rights over her body. Magnus von Horn’s gripping movie tells a contemporary story of reproductive rights while evoking the stylistic flourishes of Expressionist cinema as well as early vampire films.

Every frame in the Oscar-nominated film points to a place and time gone awry. The stark black-and-white palette creates a consistently chilling effect. Michal Dymek’s gorgeous monochrome compositions make eyes glitter like pinpoints and squalid interiors appear sinister. The…

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