Film Review: THE UNKNOWN: A Body Swap Drama That Sounds Better Than it Actually Plays [NYFF 2026]

The Unknown Review

The Unknown (2026) Film Review from the 64th Annual New York Film Festival, a movie directed by Arthur Harari, written by Lucas Harari, Arthur Harari and Vincent Poymiro and starring Léa Seydoux, Niels Schneider, Valérie Dréville, Lilith Grasmug, Radu Jude, Victoire Du Bois, Naama Preis and Julie Sokolowski.

Filmmaker Arthur Harari’s disturbing new film from the It Follows school of filmmaking, The Unknown, will certainly haunt the viewer with its exploration of what could potentially happen if you, one day, found yourself living in another person’s body. That situation would be intensified if the new body was that of a person of the opposite sex, as is the case with Harari’s creepy new picture.

Léa Seydoux (The Beast) is the central star of this movie, but the film also features the intense Niels Schneider as the person whose body Seydoux’s character seems to end up inhabiting, at first anyway. The Unknown swings back and forth between being quite interesting and being utterly confusing, with the confusing scenes often steering the film off track into – pardon the saying – “unknown” territory.

At nearly two hours and twenty minutes in length, there’s not enough substance to the material to sustain the running time. That’s because the movie opens with a scenario that is far more interesting than the way the filmmaker spins the plot in order to fill the padded running time. As the film’s main storyline opens up, Schneider’s David Zimmerman, an artsy photographer, ends up at a party where he spots the classy and sexy, Eva Helsinger (Seydoux at her most alluring), an actress. After a bout of steamy sex, the bodies seem to get swapped with each personality trapped in a form that is the opposite of what the characters are accustomed to. In fact, it’s not even the real Eva that is in David’s body, or is it?

The Unknown has some great scenes despite the confusion that the plot stirs up. One scene has David approaching the supposed father (a terrific Radu Jude) of the woman in David’s body, as “she” tells the dad all the things she knows about him and their past, proving that the man’s body is not holding the “spirit” it is supposed to be holding.

Lilith Grasmug serves as Malia, the other key female in this very intense film with nowhere really compelling to go from a plot perspective, but, eventually, the movie delves into unique, uncharted territory. For example, David starts to be open to the changes he physically experiences, which further complicates an already baffling situation. Also, Malia is taking the form of David’s body rather than the true “Eva.” Confused, yet?

Seydoux’s beauty is played down considerably in the film, but she still looks fascinating in terms of the way “Eva,” or whoever, wanders around, looking for answers that may never come regarding her body’s new owner’s future. A film with a plot like The Unknown would benefit greatly from definitive answers as to why what is happening is taking place, but the movie skimps out on plausible reasons in order to run with the ambitious premise that it employs. Also, the movie plays like a silent film at times, early on, with little to no dialogue moving the action along at a slow pace.

Sex plays a key role in The Unknown, and although the filmmaker is really interested in the idea of how a human being can get closer to the person that he or she is intimate with, the ideas here just never truly gel satisfactorily. It’s more the questions the movie raises about personal identity and physical appearance that really fascinate, and some great ideas get lost in the shuffle to make the movie come to some sort of palatable resolution.

Still, Seydoux can do no wrong. This movie tests her range as an actress and she hits it out of the park with a performance unlike any she’s ever done before. Meanwhile, Schneider is the very definition of a good sport, proving that he has nothing off limits for him as a performer. He revels in the movie’s somber intensity with a tragic performance that is utterly heartbreaking to behold.

Seydoux and Schneider are better individually than together in their roles here. Their confusion and despair become the essence of their characters and whenever they play opposite any other performers in the film, there’s a true sense of awkwardness, which would certainly be expected from a situation like the one this movie proposes.

Despite its fascinating topic, the audience is left hanging on just a few occasions and the film’s ending feels hollow despite all the emotions that the leads experience while giving their earnest performances. It’s a close call, but the movie should have been better with such an intriguing story at its center. When it works, it works and when it doesn’t, it meanders aimlessly. It’s almost like some scenes remain that needed to be left on the cutting room floor in order to find the center of the movie and clear up some of the vague characterizations. The Unknown is ambiguous to a fault, but will haunt the viewer for days with its questionable scenarios and disturbing revelations.

Rating: 6/10

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