The Marked Woman (2026)

The Marked Woman (2026)

Original title: La desconocida (which simply means “The Unknown Woman”)

A film directed by Gabe Ibáñez, starring the fabulous Candela Peña and Ana Rujas. Based on the novel by Rosa Montero and Olivier Truc. I don’t know how good the book is.

A very good crime thriller. The title could have been better. The English title means “The Marked Woman,” which is accurate and understandable.

There are characters I would have liked to see more of. In fact, everyone plays their part, and the team working together in this feature film is quite close-knit, efficient, and very human, with their flaws, strengths, and weaknesses.

An unconscious woman is found by the police in a shipping container at the docks in Barcelona. Unable to speak or even remember her identity, she is taken to the hospital, where an assassination attempt is made on her. Inspector Anna Ripoll, an expert in human trafficking, is tasked with investigating this mysterious case alongside French police officer Zapori.

Sometimes I wonder if it’s not due to a lack of budget that there are fewer action scenes… because the first one is truly spectacular. It’s a scene in which we discover that an amnesiac woman really knows how to fight hand-to-hand. And the chase, as well as the fights, last quite a while and are truly breathtaking.

Candela Peña (her stage name) is excellent in her role as a detective. Her real name is María del Pilar Peña Sánchez. She plays a tormented character, though it isn’t immediately clear what trauma she has endured. It haunts her throughout the film, whenever she has a moment to catch her breath. At work, she is undoubtedly the best on the team.

As for Ana Rujas Guerrero, her beauty is truly striking. So much so that we aren’t surprised to learn she was a model before becoming an actress. An excellent choice, as her charisma is hard to match. She’s perfect in the role of the victim who becomes a member of the team leading the investigation.

I also loved the male lead played by Pol López. He’s an actor with a striking face that reminded me of many other great actors, like Ewan McGregor, for example. He plays the annoying but relatively decent guy with a good heart very well.

Every character has their own demons, and the film manages to introduce them in a way that keeps you engaged and prevents you from complaining that none of the characters were developed properly. It’s obviously a really tough job to add depth so that no character comes across as flat. But it’s also impossible to fully develop every character in a single film. That’s more the job of writers… who want to do it, of course!

From what I’ve seen, this film hasn’t been very well received. Not that I’m surprised: I’m usually the type to hate movies that the general public loves, and vice versa. Still, this Spanish crime thriller is actually quite well-filmed and well-acted. Some might say it never manages to create a sense of mystery, even though the most interesting aspect would have been the woman with amnesia. The plot is therefore almost linear and uninteresting to them. And the only major twist isn’t really one, since it’s completely predictable for those who’ve seen a ton of these kinds of films. In the end, they’ll say it’s a film that’s watchable but lacks character, originality, and ideas. That’s not my take.

No, I had a great time. It manages to surpass Psycho Killer (2026), which, for its part, was justifiably unsuccessful. Its ending is really not great.

Here, there are a few small questions that may remain, but overall, the puzzle has been put together rather well. Obviously, for those who love total darkness, torture scenes, gore, constant headshots, slit throats… you definitely won’t find that here.

If you only like action without emotion, violence without subtlety, then, sure, you can move on!