Unidentified: A Tricky If Uninspired Saudi Crime Who-Done-It

By Liam Lacey

Rating: C

When the body of a teenaged girl is found in the desert outside the Saudi Arabian city of Riyadh, Noelle (Mila Al Zahrani), a true-crime podcast fan and clerk at a quiet police station, takes it on herself to determine the girl’s identity and solve the crime before it’s declared a cold case.

In its broad outlines, Unidentified — cowritten by director Haifaa Al Mansour and Brad Niemann —resembles a generic television series about an underestimated woman crime solver who has social skills and notices details that men overlook. American broadcast TV series such as Elsbeth, Matlock, and High Potential come to mind.

But beneath its formulaic surface, Noelle’s obsession with the case is somehow related to flashbacks about the relatively recent death of infant daughter and a bitter divorce. Though the hard twist of the ending fuses the two narrative strands, the effect feels artificially forced, and downright illogical.

Al Mansour broke through in 2012 with the delightful Wadjda, the first feature film shot in Saudi Arabia, about a 10-year-old girl’s dream of buying a bicycle. Unidentified is Al Mansour’s third film in a trio about women in the kingdom. The trilogy includes The Perfect Candidate (2019), a solid drama about gender barriers about a woman doctor (also played by Al Zahrani) who runs for political office.

Al Mansour’s filmography also features the 2018 period drama Mary Shelley, starring Elle Fanning, an awkward misfire. So too unfortunately is Unidentified, though it rewards with some insight into the complexities of living as a Saudi woman in a period of cultural transition.

As Noelle pursues her investigation, she must navigate these nuanced cultural rules. She drives her own car, a privilege only allowed to women in the kingdom since 2018, the same year cinemas were allowed after a 35-year ban. While driving though, she wears a niqab, the head covering that leaves only the woman’s eyes visible. Both the car and the face covering are significant elements to the plot.

Noelle has the respect of her fatherly middle-aged boss, Officer Majid (Shafi Alharthi) who shares a fondness for her favourite crime podcast (which also includes make-up tips along with its grisly anecdotes).

He playfully calls her “The Executioner” for her hard-driving style. Initially, Majid values her feminine insights about the victim’s manicure and embroidery on her clothing. But he is less patient when Noelle soon goes outside the borders of her menial job, conducting a string of trouble-making interviews with influential people in the wealthy North Riyadh neighbourhood.

The interview subjects include the victim’s classmates, her troubled street artist cousin (Abdullah Al Qahtani), an imperious school principal and the coldly grieving mother (Fatmah Al Shareef). All of them are reluctant to talk about the case on the grounds of family honour. The victim had arranged some sort of late-night tryst with a man who was not the fiancé she was obliged to marry.

While Unidentified almost works as a serviceable pilot for a crime-of-the-week script — think Law & Order: Riyadh — the rug-pull of an ending eliminates even that slimly entertaining possibility.

Unidentified. Directed by Haifaa Al Mansour. Written by Haifaa Al Mansour and Brad Niemann. Starring Mila Al Zahrani, Shafi Al Harthi, Abdullah Al Qahtani and Fatma Al Shareef. In theatres June 26 in Toronto and Montréal; opening in other cities throughout the summer.