The most unusual murder mystery at Cannes played out on Wednesday morning in the Grand Theatre Lumiere, as Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardennes’ “The Unknown Girl” had its first screenings in competition.
The Dardenne brothers aren’t known for things like murders and mysteries — instead, their cinema has long been based on an understated naturalism, evoking working-class lives with little fanfare but intense empathy.
They’ve been to Cannes many times before, and won the Palme d’Or for “Rosetta” in 1999 and “L’Enfant” in 2005; “The Unknown Girl” has the potential to make them the first three-time Palme winners.
Based on Wednesday’s screenings, they’re probably longshots to achieve that trifecta.