CANNES, France--"The Unknown Girl" (La Fille Inconnue) by double Palme d'Or winners Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne seems like an allegory about Europe's migration crisis, but the Belgian brothers deny it's sending any message.
Presenting their 10th feature film at the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday, the directors said the film was all about Dr Jenny Davin, who tries to identify a teenage girl who was killed just outside her practice.
She starts out feeling driven by guilt, having ignored the doorbell that night because it rang an hour after she had closed the office. As she investigates the case, it becomes clear she is at first the only one interested in finding out the truth.
Asked if the film could be read as a commentary on the closed doors facing migrants risking death to reach Europe, the directors replied that once screened, their films did not belong to them anymore.
"Once it's been seen, a film belongs to the viewers. If they want to see some example in this, they're free to do so. They can see it as both a individual moral story and a diagnosis of society," said Luc Dardenne.
"But we're telling the story of someone who feels responsible ... and refuses to say 'I haven't seen anything'," he added. "We're not trying to send any message."
This feeling of responsibility pushes her to find the truth, even when nobody else around her seems to care, he said. "She did not open her door when she should have."
The Dardenne brothers won the highest distinction in Cannes with "Rosetta" in 1999 and with "L'Enfant" (The Child) in 2005.
Only seven directors - or directing teams - have won the Palme d'Or twice and the Dardenne brothers are in the running for a third top award on the Croisette. The winner will be announced on Sunday.
