What Is ‘The Girl with the Needle’ About?
She is alone, poor, cold, and bitter.
To add insult to injury, she terminates Karoline’s employment at the factory.
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If she cannot terminate, then she will give it away.
It’s not as simple as a cute baby cooing at her once and her being a changed woman.
It is chilly, hostile, and bleak.
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There is a clanking industrial feel to it all, like a black and white Lowry painting.
Concepts like shame, suitability for motherhood, and even original sin in the babies themselves are mulled over.
“These children caused their mothers a lot of suffering, and I helped them!”
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she tells the judge.
This brave and not uncontroversial stance on motherhood is muddied by the presence of a little girl, Erena.
She, too, sees babies as these attention-absorbing entities that rob her of the love she deserves.
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It calls to mind the likes ofVera Drake,10 Rillington Place,Eraserhead, and evenFreaks.
It’s a slice-of-life approach to discomfort that feels that much more impactful because of its familiar domestic setting.
The Girl with the Needlecomes to theaters on December 6.
Image via Nordisk Film Distribution
