“Woman Unknown,” a Danish film directed by May el-Toukhy, won the Golden Lion for best film at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival on Saturday.
The film, a period drama set in Denmark, follows a servant about to marry her factory-owner employer in the uneasy years after World War II. It was awarded the festival’s top prize by a competition jury led by the director and actress Maggie Gyllenhaal. “Woman Unknown,” as had been widely noted, was one of only two films in the competition directed by a woman.
“The film tells the tale of women who are invisible, unseen and voiceless,” el-Toukhy said in her acceptance speech, singling out Gyllenhaal for “shining a light on the lack of opportunities for female filmmakers in our industry.” She dedicated the award to her teenage daughter, and made a plea to “use your voice to speak up against dehumanization.”
The Danish actress Mathilde Arcel won the Volpi Cup for best actress for her role as the servant in “Woman Unknown,” who faces abuse for her actions during the war.
The Volpi Cup for best actor went to John Malkovich for his work as a dying C.I.A. agent in Martin McDonagh’s “Wild Horse Nine.”
Many critics regarded this year’s competition as less dazzling than in recent years, though the festival was helped by newsy titles like “NAZA,” a documentary about the killings of Palestinian civilians by Israeli forces, and “Musk,” a nearly-four-hour portrait of the tech entrepreneur Elon Musk.
“NAZA,” which was directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, won the festival’s Special Jury Prize.
The year’s competition lineup included 21 feature films. The festival opened with Danny Boyle’s “Ink,” which recounts the rise of the British tabloid newspaper The Sun under the editor Larry Lamb and the publisher Rupert Murdoch. Other prominent films included “Bunker,” “My Undesirable Friends: Part II — Exile,” “Bucking Fastard,” “Primetime,” “Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger,” “The Basics of Philosophy” and “Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People?”
The Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize, the festival’s runner-up award, went to “Possible Love,” a film by the South Korean director Lee Chang-dong that tells the story of a former factory worker and his wife, and their relationship with a documentarian and her wealthy husband.
The Silver Lion for best director was awarded to Ilya Khrzhanovsky for “DAU,” which traces the life of a physicist across several decades in the Soviet Union. The festival had generated some controversy by including the film amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Marcello Mastroianni Award for outstanding emerging actor was given to Malou Khebizi for the French drama “A Place to Heal.” The best screenplay prize was awarded to Stéphane Brizé, Coralie Amedeo and Olivier Gorce for another French film, “A Good Little Soldier,” which Brizé directed.
The Lion of the Future prize, presented to the best debut feature, went to Bernard Auguste Kouemo Yanghu’s “House of the Wind,” from Cameroon. The top award in the Orizzonti sidebar section, which recognizes especially adventuresome and independent work, went to the Belgian movie “Diane in the Loop,” directed by Ann Sirot and Raphaël Balboni. “I Matter,” from the Romanian filmmaker Alina Șerban, received the Armani Beauty Audience Award, which is voted on by the festival’s attendees.
Two Golden Lions for lifetime achievement went to George Clooney and Ellen Burstyn (who starred in the out-of-competition title “Place to Be”). The Glory to the Filmmaker Award, which honors a significant contribution to contemporary filmmaking, went to Luca Guadagnino, whose new documentary about the Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci premiered at the festival.
As usual, the festival’s red carpet attracted plenty of stars, including Penélope Cruz, Robert Pattinson, Javier Bardem, Claire Foy, Michael Fassbender, Pamela Anderson, and Liam and Noel Gallagher.
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