Danish filmmaker May el-Toukhy is competing for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival with her new film, *Woman Unknown*, a story focusing on the experiences of women in post-World War II Denmark. The film examines the consequences faced by women who had relationships with German soldiers during the occupation, and the societal pressures and punishments they endured.
Inspired by a 1940s newspaper photograph of a woman with a swastika painted on her back, el-Toukhy and co-writer Maren Louise Käehne initially considered focusing on the Reformation witch hunts, but found the motivations of the persecutors uninteresting. They shifted their focus to the women who became “battlefields” during the war, those who were shamed and punished for intimate relationships with occupying soldiers. *Woman Unknown* is set in Denmark shortly after the end of World War II and centers on Marie, played by Mathilde Arcel, a nanny and housemaid with a secret relationship with a German soldier. Marie’s past threatens her future as she attempts to marry her wealthy employer, Christian, portrayed by Carsten Bjørnlund.
El-Toukhy emphasized that the film is specifically about the female experience during this period, noting the prevalence of war films focused on male perspectives. “There have been so many films about the Second World War…But they’re all based mostly on men’s experiences and recollections of war,” she told *The Hollywood Reporter*. She expressed a desire for more films to explore the experiences of women during this time. The film is a co-production between Denmark, Sweden, and Latvia. El-Toukhy stated she has “worked 16 hours a day for more than a year” and “spent all my savings” to complete the project, but feels prepared because she “used every part of me…to make this film.”
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