Zou Jing’s A Girl Unknown tells a tender story of self-identity and abandonment during China’s consequential one-child policy.
Director: Jing Zou
Original title: Wu Ming Nü Hai
Genre: Drama
Run Time: 128′
BFI London Film Festival Screening: October , 2026
U.S. Release Date: 2027
U.K. Release Date: TBA
In 1979, China enacted a one-child policy to try to curb overpopulation in the country. This limiting of the number of children families could have has only been ended in the last couple of years, but the consequences have been numerous and long-ranging. Writer-director Zou Jing has said her debut feature, A Girl Unknown, doesn’t deal with the one-child policy. In the film’s press notes, she says she was inspired by an article she read, as well as the story of her grandmother, who was born way before the policy was in effect.
Yet there is a link through an aspect of China’s culturally patriarchal society that has carried over. One of the consequences of the one-child policy was the abandonment of young girls, as boys were very much preferred. That very same thing happened to Zou’s grandmother. And she uses it for A Girl Unknown, which follows a girl in three chapters of her life from six to 18. In the process, Zou tells a terrific coming-of-age story of how that unbearable sense of abandonment can impact self-identity.
In the 1980s, six-year-old Lin Juan (Cao Ruofan) is a tomboyish, curious girl living in the countryside with her parents. She enjoys swimming, running through the forest, flying kites and playing with/fighting other kids. However, everything changes when her father dies. Her mother remarries and falls pregnant, which leads to her abandoning Juan with a different couple in the city. That culture shock, plus her mother’s sudden disappearance, leads to Juan (renamed Wang Juan) becoming more withdrawn and inward. Meanwhile, her adoptive parents Meishuang (Shen Jiani) and Weiqiang (Zu Feng, Brief History of a Family) have a familial trauma neither can let go of, even as Juan becomes a teenager (played by Resurrection’s Li Gengxi).
Years later, the cycle begins again. Juan’s actual birth parents turn up and take her in, revealing her actual name (Wu Lian) and the siblings she never knew she had. But Lian feels as much on the fringes here as she is on the edge of the family photo (it’s a small section of the film, but it reminded me a lot of the dynamic in Carla Simon’s Romería), and is left still seeking some sense of belonging.
DP Liang Zhongqiang (who shot Zou’s 2021 short Lili Alone) often places the camera at Lian’s height and eye level, especially when she is younger. It is a quietly persuasive, intimate technique, immersing you in Lian’s perspective and her deeply empathetic journey. Zou’s direction also allows for other realist flourishes, like the way the colours stand out (particularly the reds and luscious greens of the countryside) or the naturalistic ambient sound.
Meanwhile, all the brilliant main performances are understated but effective. Both newcomer Cao Ruofan and Li Gengxi balance moments of hurt, isolation and sensitivity in their turns as Lian, reflecting the absence of true family and belonging in Lian’s life. Zu Feng is very subtle as adoptive father Weiqiang, whose fragilities are slowly unveiled. And as adoptive mother Meishuang, Shen Jiani’s performance is rooted in resilience as she tries to keep things together and connect with her daughter, with a big emotional explosion towards the end.
As the film’s title makes clear, Lin Juan/Wang Juan/Wu Lian is a girl unknown, namely to herself. With no consistent name or place through the years, she has lived a young life of instability. There is an inherent tragedy and heartbreak here. However, what makes A Girl Unknown work is how Zou portrays the story’s weighty subject matter in a restrained, tender manner. The timeline is temporally sprawling, taking place over decades. But the natural lighting and performances allow Lian’s journey to unfurl naturally and evolve over its just-over-two-hour runtime. It is a drama of a girl becoming disconnected through familial absence that can get emotionally tough, but not without some catharsis and hope by the end.
A Girl Unknown (Wu Ming Nü Hai): Movie Plot & Recap
Synopsis:
A Chinese girl is passed between families from the age of 6 to 18, searching for a sense of belonging and identity each time.
Pros:
- Zou Jing’s debut feature is a tender story of a Chinese girl searching for self-identity amidst unbearable abandonment.
- What makes the film work is how Zou portrays her story’s weighty subject matter in a restrained, tender manner.
- The performances are brilliantly understated and effective, from Cao Ruofan and Li Gengxi as Juan/Lian to Shen Jiani as her adoptive mother Meishuang.
Cons:
- The film drags a bit in the final part.
A Girl Unknown was screened at the BFI London Film Festival on October 9-11, 2026.