‘The Unknown’ Review: Niels Schneider Wakes Up as Léa Seydoux in Arthur Harari’s Gratuitously Serious Body-Swap Psychodrama
David wakes up in a stranger’s body after a party encounter, and the film follows a chain of identity shifts that deepens the mystery.
- On Monday, French director Arthur Harari premiered his Palme d'Or contender 'The Unknown' at Cannes alongside stars Léa Seydoux and Niels Schneider, receiving a warm, 9-minute reception.
- Adapted from the graphic novel 'The Case of David Zimmerman', the film follows a reclusive photographer who wakes on New Year's Day to discover he has mysteriously swapped bodies with a stranger.
- Harari, who shared the Best Original Screenplay Oscar for 'Anatomy of a Fall' in 2024, filmed this quasi-sci-fi story with naturalistic French drama style, eschewing stylized interludes or woozy visual effects.
- The screening occurred 24 hours after Canal+ CEO Maxime Saada announced his group would stop working with signatories of an anti-Bolloré letter, citing the director's allusion to Vincent Bolloré as 'crypto-fascist.'
- Saada's decision sparked uproar in the French film industry, reflecting tensions over media tycoon Bolloré's growing control of France's entertainment sectors, as his group retains around 30% of the stock.
14 Articles
14 Articles
The unknown starts with a fascinating idea and left half a Cannes festival at the door while the South Korean action blockbuster and sci-fi amazed the other half.
On Monday evening in Competition, Arthur Harari adapted his comic book "The David Zimmerman Case" for an exploration of identity and genres, disturbing to the absurd. ...
‘The Unknown’ Review: Niels Schneider Wakes Up as Léa Seydoux in Arthur Harari’s Gratuitously Serious Body-Swap Psychodrama
If you’ve ever caught yourself having just too good a time with “Freaky Friday” or “Your Name” or really any entry in the oddly well-populated body-swap genre, here’s a chance to do a little penance. “The Unknown” is Arthur Harari’s third directorial feature, after “Dark Inclusion” and “Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle,” and his […]
‘The Unknown’ Review: Léa Seydoux Triggers a Body-Swap Nightmare in Beguilingly Weird Arthouse Genre- and Gender-Bender
Niels Schneider also stars in this third feature from Oscar-winning 'Anatomy of a Fall' co-writer Arthur Harari, which fuses existential horror with naturalistic drama.
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