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admin / December 3, 2024

Ep. 149 The key to great character dramas + The Girl with the Needle (feat. Magnus von Horn)

In this episode of the podcast, Alex Heeney discusses one key element of character dramas (world-building) and how The Girl With the Needle exemplifies this, then talks to director Magnus von Horn about it.

Listen on apple podcasts listen on spotify

Still from Small Things Like These, which Alex Heeney reviews on the podcast

What separates a good character drama from a great character drama is a film that actually places the character in a very particular context — a place, a culture, a group of people — so we understand what constraints and opportunities they’re responding to.

In this episode, Alex talks about how Magnus von Horn’s The Girl with the Needle exemplifies this definition of a great character drama. In fact, it’s one of the best movies of 2024. It’s a film that’s as about the complex characters at its centre as the world that produced them and pushed them to behave in the way they do.

Then, Alex talks to director von Horn about how we crafted the world around the characters.

Set in Copenhagen during/after WWI, The Girl with the Needle follows Karoline in her quest for upward mobility when she finds herself with an unwanted pregnancy and desperate for a solution. Enter Dagmar, who provides an enticing solution and becomes her new employer. But is Dagmar’s promise as simple and sweet as it sounds?

Related Episodes:

  • Ep 101. Magnus von Horn’s The Here After and Sweat

Show notes on Magnus von Horn and The Girl with the Needle

  • Read Alex’s review of Magnus von Horn’s The Here After
  • Read Orla Smith’s review of Magnus von Horn’s Sweat
  • Read Orla Smith’s interview with Magnus von Horn on Sweat

Podcast Credits for The Girl with the Needle (feat. Magnus von Horn)

This episode was edited, produced, and recorded by Alex Heeney.

Follow Seventh Row on Twitter and Instagram. Read our articles at seventh-row.com.

Follow Alex Heeney on Twitter and Instagram. 

An AI-generated transcript for the episode is available on Apple Podcasts.

Filed Under: Podcasts Tagged With: Alex Heeney podcast, Danish Film, horror, Interview podcast, Magnus von Horn, Scandinavian Cinema

About admin

Alex is the Chief Film Critic and Editor-in-Chief of The Seventh Row, based in San Francisco and from Toronto, Canada. She has been writing film reviews for over a decade for various publications, including The Stanford Daily. She is also a Ph.D. Candidate in Industrial Engineering at Stanford University where she works on how to reduce system-wide food waste and its environmental impact. Alex is particularly passionate about stories about (and by) women, but gets equally excited about "Oslo, August 31st" as "Little Women" — both rank among her favourite films. She's also a keen supporter of Canadian cinema.

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