[A] baroquely lurid and undeniably fascinating exercise in pulp with a political angle.
Comment
05/30/08
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The Unknown Woman (2006)
64
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:39
Fresh:25
Rotten:14
Average Rating:6.1/10
Consensus: If it's occasionally manipulative, this Italian melodrama mixes thriller conventions with a poignant love story and keeps the tension rolling from start to finish.
Theatrical Release:2008-03
Synopsis: Russian actress Xenia Rappoport gives a rich, complex lead performance in Giuseppe Tornatore's Italian thriller, THE UNKNOWN WOMAN (LA SCONOSCIUTA). Rappoport stars as Irena, a deeply troubled... [More]
Starring: Ksenia Rappoport, Clara Dossena, Michele Placido, Claudia Gerini
Director: Giuseppe Tornatore
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Reviews for The Unknown Woman
Top CriticAn unstable concoction of political melodrama, film noir, and weepie.
05/30/08
It gets more and more ridiculous and unbelievable as it goes along, and the final scene is shamelessly manipulative.
05/30/08
It's an uneasy mix, and not an entirely successful one. But the film is flat-out gorgeous and contains moments of sheer lunacy.
05/30/08
A riveting lead performance by Rappoport [...] overshadowed by the more frequent potboiler preposterousness.
05/30/08
Just under two hours, sumptuously photographed in noirish shades and slathered in spine-tingling music by Ennio Morricone, it twists every which way to sustain suspense until the final frame.
05/30/08
Top CriticA restless, panicked, devastating emotional roller coaster, meticulously planned and executed like a razor.
05/29/08
Tornatore is unable to sustain tension once the heroine’s agenda is revealed halfway through, and what follows veers between ploddingly dull and unintentionally risible.
05/29/08
The melodrama form allows Tornatore to examine such current issues as human trafficking and black-market babies within a yarn that, for all its sentiment, is never less than gripping.
05/28/08
Wanting it both ways, Tornatore presents the tragedy of sex slavery, while lavishly eroticizing it. And without a clue about female desires or dreams, whether sex slaves, servants or hysterical psychos, beyond their sexual apparatus. Unknown Woman, indeed
05/20/08
From its silly exploitation treatment of prostitution and sexual bondage you'd never imagine that Giuseppe Tornatore, the same director who created the magnificent "Cinema Paradiso," made "The Unknown Woman."
05/10/08
Rappoport is the movie's saving grace.
05/09/08
The Unknown Woman is a thriller and a love story, and those elements are mixed together in unexpected ways. It's a stunning film.
05/09/08
This is a case where style has not only trumped substance, but negated it as well.
05/09/08
The Unknown Woman begins the same way director Giuseppe Tornatore's last film, Malena, operated throughout: by ogling a fine female form.
03/31/08
High quality pictures and a smashing sound track with no slack in the suspense until the curtain drops. A fine piece of fright.
03/15/08
There is enough interesting stuff going on in the film until the final revelation to make this a journey worth taking.
03/07/08
Cria uma atmosfera tensa e envolvente durante a maior parte do tempo, mas, lamentavelmente, se perde de maneira absurda em seus minutos finais.
12/21/07
Classy but hardly enjoyable Giallo thriller.
12/12/07
Latest News for The Unknown Woman
September 19, 2008:
OtherCool.com: Wanting it both ways, Tornatore presents the tragedy of sex slavery, while lavishly eroticizing it. And without a clue about female desires or dreams, whether sex slaves, servants or hysterical psychos, beyond their sexual apparatus. 
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May 29, 2008:
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This week at the movies, we've got love and commerce (Sex and the City: The Movie, starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall) and romantic getaways gone wrong (The... More...
May 18, 2008:
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