May el-Toukhy is one of just two female directors vying for this year’s Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, where she is competing with the post-World War II psychological thriller Woman Unknown.
The film, which takes place in Denmark in the summer of 1945, centers on Marie (Mathilde Arcel), a housemaid and nanny who is about to wed her wealthy, elderly, widowed employer (Carsten Bjørnlund).
There is a darker side to the liberation amid the celebration, as ladies who socialized with German soldiers are found and publically humiliated.
Marie’s impending but precarious social ascent is threatened by a traumatic secret from her past, and she will do anything it takes to keep it a secret.
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It was an unexpected decision for a festival that has awarded its top Golden Lion Award to three female directors since 2020, and it left many women in the film business questioning whether the movement for gender equality sparked by the MeToo movement was real.
El-Toukhy tells Deadline that although she is “delighted” and “honored” to be competing, she has been troubled by the dearth of female candidates for the Golden Lion this year.
She says, “It indicates that there is still a lot of work to be done.” “I believe it’s a structural issue that I have a lot of experience with. In numerous situations, I’ve been the only woman.
