THE HEADLESS WOMAN Showcase Argentina

Lucrecia Martel’s LA CIENEGA skewered the corruption of a wealthy Argentine family and their servants. In THE HOLY GIRL, Martel explored an adolescent girl’s erotic-religious obsession. Now , in her third and most demanding film, THE HEADLESS WOMAN (co-produced by Pedro Almodovar and his brother Augustin), Martel ingeniously depicts an upper-class matron in crisis. The heroine, Veronica (Maria Onetto), is racing home when she hits an object in the road . We, and she, are not sure what it might be . Veronica drives away haunted by what may or may not have happened The film focuses literally and figuratively on her, gazing through long focal shots that blur the space around her, trapping her in a world of guilt and paranoia. What Veronica discovers, among other things, is that none of her friends are particularly interested in hearing about her complicity in a potential crime. Their selfish, obsessive daily routines mean too much to them; they simply can’! be bothered. The stinging judgment on polite society comes very close to harsh comedy. Martel’s widescreen camera is as stunning as it is disorienting and ambiguous, frustrating our desire for moral clarity. Veronica is trapped, like a ghost, in the mediocrity of her everyday life. Mart el implicates us in Veronica’s point of view and with the same state of confusion and that’s exactly what is so brilliant about the film