‘Woman Unknown’ Breakout Mathilde Arcel on Her Venice Award-Winning Performance and Life After Her Lido Triumph: ‘Everything Is Open’

Nov 15, 2026 3:17am PT ‘Woman Unknown’ Breakout Mathilde Arcel on Her Venice Award-Winning Performance and Life After Her Lido Triumph: ‘Everything Is Open’

The 30-year-old has also been nominated for best actress at the European Film Awards, while May el-Toukhy's Golden Lion winner is representing Denmark in the best international feature race at the Oscars

By Christopher Vourlias

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Christopher Vourlias

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Danish actress Mathilde Arcel would be the first to admit she didn’t see this coming.

It’s been hardly two months since Arcel, in her first-ever leading role in a feature film, was awarded the Volpi Cup for best actress for her breakout performance in “Woman Unknown,” May el-Toukhy’s riveting, post-World War II drama that was also feted with the festival’s Golden Lion. Praised by Variety‘s Beatrice Loayza for her “magnetic” performance, Arcel plays a young housemaid whose intimate relationship with a German soldier during World War II threatens her future.

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