L'inconnue
The Unknown

While I can't say this is the French art-house body-swap drama I was hoping for, I appreciated the commitment to each choice made by director Arthur Harari (co-writer of 2023's best film Anatomy of a Fall). Based on the story he developed with his brother Lucas for Lucas's graphic novel Le cas David Zimmerman, Harari weaves a darkly comedic drama that takes its situation and its characters' predicaments totally seriously. No winking at the absurdity of the premise. Niels Schneider stars as a Parisian photographer who wakes up in the body of Léa Seydoux after a sexual encounter with her in an alleyway outside a nightclub. This leads him/her on a quest to understand how this occurred. The film starts out a little drab, but builds nicely so that by the time the third act is reached, you have no idea where it will go. Schneider and Seydoux both seem to have transformed their physical selves to a point where they don't feel at home in their bodies. Both give excellent, minimalist performances.