Queen Of Hearts director May el-Toukhy has set her next feature, post-Second World War drama Woman, Unknown (working title).
The film revolves around Marie, a former housekeeper preparing a lavish dinner party to celebrate her engagement to the patriarch of the house, when the truth of her secret past starts to emerge.
el-Toukhy is writing the script with her Queen Of Hearts co-writer Maren Louise Kaehne. The film will be produced by Mikael Christian Rieks for Nordisk Film Production, with filming expected to begin in the first half of 2025.
Backers on the film include the Danish Film Institute.
“With Woman, Unkown I want to explore the idea of the female body as a public domain, a public matter for society to pass judgement on regardless of time and place. I am preoccupied with what it does to a person to carry the burden of a concealed secret for too long, the stigma, the shame – internalized and collective,” said el-Toukhy.
“With Queen Of Hearts, May el-Toukhy and Maren Louise Käehne proved that they are among the most powerful storytellers of their generation. At Nordisk Film Production, we strive to produce relevant and compelling films of high artistic quality for a wide audience, and Woman, Unknown ticks all the boxes,” said Rieks.
Queen Of Hearts debuted at Sundance in 2019, winning the audience award in the World Cinema – Dramatic Competition, and going on to sell over 400,000 tickets in Denmark.
It was a second feature for Danish filmmaker el-Toukhy, who has also directed episodes of Netflix hit The Crown.
Catherine Breillat’s French Queen Of Hearts remake Last Summer played in Competition at Cannes last year.
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