A Girl Unknown ¦ Film Review (4*): This Chinese ‘Boyhood’ is Impressive and Moving.

A One Mann’s Movies review of “A Girl Unknown”. (From the 2026 London Film Festival). (2026, 4*, ’15’).

Original title: Wu ming nü hai

A Girl Unknown – a Chinese-made film – is a bit of a trial, covering as it does elements of separation, sexual violence and suicide. But I found it to be an engrossing watch, beautifully filmed and with two stunning performances from the two girls who play Lin Juan through the ten years that we follow her: Cao Ruofan and Li Gengxi.

One Mann’s Movies Rating:

Plot:

From the point of view of Wu Lian (Cao Ruofan) she is living her best life with her young friends in a rural village. Stubborn and wilful, she doesn’t take nonsense from anyone. But her life is turned upside down when her mother takes her to a big city to live with some other couple. Confused and upset, she struggles to come to terms with her change of circumstances.

Certification:

UK: NR; US: NR. (This film has not yet received a classification by the BBFC, but I would expect it to be a 15 based on the adult themes involved.)

Talent:

Starring: Li Gengxi, Shen Jiani, Zu Feng, Cao Ruofan.

Directed by: Zou Jing.

Written by: Zou Jing.

Running Time: 2h 8m.

Review:

Positives:

• (An extra credit for the comedy production logos at the front of the film: they are not supposed to be funny, but some of the absurd communist-style logos of brave men and women striving against adversity in dramatic poses tickled my funny bone.)
• The script is mature and expects you as the viewer to keep up with all of the information being thrown at you. And it is an effort. At times you are as confused as Lin Juan about what is going on and why. The screenplay drip feeds you additional snippets of information as the film proceeds: “Ah!” moments that help you piece the jigsaw together. The film is divided into chapters for different parts of Lin Juan’s life, titled according to the name that she adopts during those periods: Lin Juan (sometimes ‘Juan Juan’), Wang Juan and Wu Lian. This itself is very confusing! This is NOT a film that mansplains you to death.
• The two young ladies who portray Lin Juan in the film are first rate. Cao Ruofan, who plays her from the age of 6 to about 10, has a guileless naturalistic acting style that resonated with me. When she gets upset, I got upset. Then we segue – with a gap of a couple of years – to Li Gengxi who does the heavy lifting for Lin Juan in her early teenage years. Again, it’s a superbly moving performance as she is exposed to some of the darker sides of life.
• The performance of Shen Jiani as her ‘city mother’, Ding Meishuang, is also excellent.
• The cinematography by Zhongqiang Liang is simply superb, with wonderful shots of Chinese landscapes and an exquisite use of light and shadow. A good example of this is when Lin Juan takes a bus ride in the city, alone, the streetlights alternatively showing the expression on her face. The Academy always tends to favour Western films in its selection for cinematography, but I think this film deserves strong consideration for the category.
• I was getting angry that one of the actions in the movie was not being addressed. However, a judicious use of a wine bottle partly remedied that (although I did want to better understand where that went afterwards).

Negatives:

• The film is not an easy watch as the themes involved are pretty heavy. There are some characters in here that you genuinely get to hate.
• The film is flagged as being related to the Chinese ‘Single Child’ policy: a population planning program implemented nationwide from 1980 to 2015 to restrict most families to a single child. I guess the key word here is ‘most’ since the policy reflects some of the motivations in the script but doesn’t explain some family situations shown later in the film. It’s all very confusing for a wàirén!
• My friend ‘On’ Bashar (a wise man who actually makes movies!) pointed this out to me: the whole of the film is shot from the first-hand perspective of Lin Juan…. except for one moment in the third reel where Meishuang breaks down…. this only shows herself and Weiquing (her husband) in the shot. So the film kind of breaks its own self-inflicted rule at that point.
• There is a little conundrum, started by Meishuang, that runs through the film: “what light doesn’t shine?”. Frustratingly, we never get to hear the answer! (The only one I can think of is “the moon”, because it doesn’t ‘shine’ but reflects the sun’s light.)

Triggers

The film contains themes of sexual assault and suicide that might be triggering to some viewers.

Summary Thoughts:

I went to see this with ‘On’ Bashar and my daughter Jenn Jones: two out of the three ‘grand fromages’ of the Movie Bread Club, the only movie podcast that also features French bakery goods. ‘On’ shared my love of the film and also gave it 4 stars… sorry, baguettes. Jenn absolutely hated the film, declaring it “too sad”. So, I expect this one might be a – whatever the Chinese equivalent of Marmite is – movie.

Where to watch?

Trailer:

The trailer for the film is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9hG41IAREA

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