(Played in Competition for the Palme d’Or at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival)
Written and directed by Lucrecia Martel, La nina santa (The Holy Girl) is the story of a young woman who meets a troubled doctor at a medical conference at a hotel where she hopes to help him from himself. The film is a multi-themed film that explores a young woman coming into adulthood as she discovers sexuality as well as dealing with aspects of her own faith. Starring Mercedes Moran, Carlos Belloso, Alejandro Urdapilleta, Juliet Zylberberg, and Maria Alche. La nina santa is a mesmerizing and provocative film from Lucrecia Martel.
Set in a hotel at the Argentine town of Salta, the film revolves a 16-year old girl whose encounter with a visiting doctor at a medical conference is hoping to save him as he copes with the work he has to do at the conference. It’s a film that isn’t just about a girl’s exploration with her sexuality but also with her faith as she goes to a religious school where she gets the idea to help this man after he had accidentally groped her when the two were watching a man performing music with a theremin. Lucrecia Martel’s screenplay doesn’t have much of a plot as it’s really more of a study of behavior and attraction with this young woman coming-of-age in not just through her ideas of faith but also becoming aware of her sexuality. Much of it is set in the hotel where this young girl Amalia (Maria Alche) lives at with her mother Helena (Mercedes Moran) and her uncle Freddy (Alejandro Urdapilleta) as they run the place which is struggling to remain afloat.
Martel’s script also play into this growing attraction towards Dr. Jano (Carlos Belloso) and Helena as the former is just a visitor for this medical conference as he is also married though is aware of his feelings for Helena. His encounter with Amalia is by sheer accident as he first thinks of her as a prostitute or something unaware that she’s Helena’s daughter. Adding to Amalia’s own growing determination to help Dr. Jano is her fascination with faith and sex is the exploration from her own best friend Josefina (Juliet Zylberberg) who has a boyfriend as she becomes intrigued by the idea of pre-marital sex as well as the idea of miracles after seeing a neighbor fall down from the second floor of their apartment naked and survive.
Martel’s direction is definitely entrancing for some of the compositions that she creates as much of it is set in this dilapidated hotel on location in Salta as well as additional locations near the town in the Salta Province of Argentina. While there are some close-ups that help play into Amalia’s own development in her fascination with sex and faith, much of Martel’s direction rely on medium and wide shots to capture the chaos that is happening with this medical conference as well as the sense of claustrophobia that they’re all in at these rooms in the hotel. There are also moments in the film that is quite offbeat yet intriguing as it relates to Amalia and Josefina’s own interest in miracles but also things that is typical with teenage girls. There aren’t a lot of camera movements in Martel’s direction as it’s more about a scene as it’s unfolding as well as the drama which includes the two first encounters between Amalia and Dr. Jano where they watch this theremin player as it’s just this innocent moment in the film.
Martel also creates moments that definitely play up the theme of sexuality and attraction but it’s only in very subtle moments as there isn’t even a lot of nudity other than a couple of full-frontal shots from men for brief moments. There are a few moments of sex as it relates to Amalia and Josefina with the latter having sex with a boyfriend but don’t reveal anything gratuitous. The dramatic climax which involves Helena and Dr. Jano doing a presentation is more about the tension that is looming between Dr. Jano and Amalia as well as outsiders about rumors involving a visitor and someone at the hotel. Yet, Martel is more about Amalia discovering herself as well as Helena dealing with the attraction she has towards the married Dr. Jano whose family had arrived for this conference. Overall, Martel creates an intoxicating and gripping film about a young woman’s fascination with sex and faith.
Cinematographer Felix Monti does excellent work with the film’s cinematography as it’s very low-key to play into the many interiors and lighting for some of the scenes inside the hotel. Editor Santiago Ricci does brilliant work with the editing as it feature some unique rhythmic cutting to play into the drama as well as some of the dramatic suspenseful moments. Art director Graciela Oderigo and set decorator Fernando Brun do fantastic work with the look of the hotel rooms as well as the pool and the classroom where Amalia and Josefina learn about miracles.
Costume designer Julio Suarez does nice work with the clothes as it is mostly casual from the more conservative look of the adults to the looser look of the kids and teenagers. The sound work of Guido Berenblum, Marcos De Aguirre, David Miranda-Hardy, and Victor Alejandro Tendler is amazing for its intricate sound mixing to play into to the atmosphere of the hotels as well as some of the quieter moments in the pool. The film’s music by Andres Gerszenzon is wonderful for its low-key score that is a mixture of piano-based music and ambient-electronic music that adds to the drama while its soundtracks consists of the theremin music and pop music from Argentina.
The casting by Nicolas Levin and Natalia Smirnoff is great as it feature some notable small roles and appearances from Monica Villa as Josefina’s mother, Leandro Stivelman as Josefina’s boyfriend Julian, Manuel Schaller as the theremin player, Marta Lubos as Freddy’s wife Mitra who runs the hotel kitchen, the duo of Arthur Goetz and Alejo Mango as a couple of visiting doctors for conference, and Mia Maestro in a terrific small role as Amalia and Josefina’s teacher. Julieta Zylberberg is fantastic as Josefina as Amalia’s best friend who is also fascinated with the ideas of sex and faith as she goes into her own exploration while keeping secrets for Amalia. Alejandro Urdapilleta is superb as Amalia’s uncle Freddy as a man who is trying to keep his family’s hotel afloat by inviting doctors for a conference as he also copes with the chaos happening at the hotel.
Maria Alche is excellent as Amalia as a 16-year old girl whose encounter with a married doctor has her eager to save him as she’s unaware of what really happened as she is caught between her own desires sexually as well as being loyal to her faith. Carlos Belloso is brilliant as Dr. Jano as a married man troubled by his own place in the world as he finds himself attracted to Helena while dealing with the chaos over the medical conference as well as Amalia’s presence. Finally, there’s Mercedes Moran in an amazing performance as Helena as Amalia’s mother who is dealing with her own loneliness and the state of her family hotel as she connect with Dr. Jano unaware of what is going on with her daughter as it’s this very restrained yet radiant performance from Moran.
La nina santa is an incredible film from Lucrecia Martel. Featuring a great cast and compelling yet provocative premise on faith and a girl exploring her sexuality, it’s a film that doesn’t play by conventions as it showcases what people will do to try and find salvation. In the end, La nina santa is a phenomenal film from Lucrecia Martel.
Lucrecia Martel Films: La Cienaga - The Headless Woman - Zama - The Auteurs #65: Lucrecia Martel
© thevoid99 2017
Written and directed by Lucrecia Martel, La Cienaga (The Swamp) is the story of a rich family who spend the summer at a small country home as they contend with relatives and simmering tension that looms on the family. The film is an exploration into world of families and social classes as a rich couple with teenage children cope with themselves and their life as part of the bourgeoisie. Starring Graciela Borges, Mercedes Moran, Martin Adjemian, and Daniel Valenzuela. La Cienaga is a ravishing and captivating film from Lucrecia Martel.
Set in a small city in Northern Argentina called La Cienaga, the film revolves around the life of a bourgeois family that lives in a decaying country home during the summer as they do nothing but drink and other activities to cope with the heat as well as visiting relatives who live in the town. It’s a film that doesn’t have much of a plot but little stories about various people living in this house and the town nearby as they all do ordinary things amidst the differences in social standings. For someone like Mecha (Graciela Borges), she seems to have everything but her country house is a mess, the pool is filthy, her teenage children are roaming around the house, and her husband Gregorio (Martin Adjemian) spends his time trying to look young. Mecha would spend much of her holiday drinking wine with ice as she copes with being injured during a drunken rainy day as her children are trying to find ways to kill their boredom.
The film’s screenplay doesn’t play into any kind of traditional structure as it takes place largely in the span of a weekend where Mecha is stuck in her house recovering from an injury as she is visited by her cousin Tali (Mercedes Moran) who is a very different woman from Mecha. Though Tali has four kids as well who are quite rambunctious, she is a woman that lives a simpler life with her husband Rafael (Daniel Valenzuela) despite not having much as she needs to travel to Bolivia to get school supplies because it’s cheaper there than in Argentina. Along with little subplots involving a young maid named Isabel (Andrea Lopez) about to be fired over accusations of stealing towels, boys hunting in the mountains, and the eldest son Jose (Juan Cruz Bordeau) dealing with relationship issues with an older lover. It plays into something that feels ordinary but also very real as the story plays into Mecha’s teenage daughters coping with growing up while Tali’s children are also growing up as they wonder about things in Mecha’s home and such.
Lucrecia Martel’s direction definitely plays into a style that is simple and to the point as she shoots the film on location in the Argentine town of Salta where it feels like a place that is in a small town that is nearby the country. Much of the direction has Martel utilize hand-held cameras to play into a sense of intimacy as its opening sequence of Mecha, Gregorio, and friends relaxing and being drunk in the nearby pool is quite mesmerizing. It definitely sets up for what is to come as it definitely makes something that looks and feels ordinary very compelling in its image and how it sounds. Even as the house itself is a character in the film where it sort of represents who Mecha is as she is sort of falling apart due to the fact that she has everything but isn’t very happy. Even as her cousin Tali, who may not have everything, believes that Mecha will end up like their grandmother who ended up staying in bed for the rest of her life. Martel also uses the differences of Mecha and Tali into not just suggesting class and personality differences but also into the study of their respective families.
Though Tali’s younger children that includes a teenage daughter in Augustina (Noelia Bravo Herrera) are often surrounded by things though they don’t have a lot. They seem more grounded as does Tali’s husband Rafael who is always attentive towards the children. Both women are connected by the television report of a possible sighting of the Virgin Mary in the town as well as planning a trip to Bolivia. Yet, their both diverging into different directions as Mecha is surrounded by chaos in her own family as Martel’s usage of close-ups and medium shots play into that chaos. Notably as Mecha’s children are eager to escape their surroundings but have to go back because their home is their safe haven but an uneasy one due to the matriarch that lives there complaining about everything while their father is becoming delusional over his lost youth. Overall, Martel creates a very disturbing yet evocative film about a family’s bleak summer in the middle of an Argentine countryside.
Cinematographer Hugo Colace does brilliant work with the film‘s ravishing cinematography with its emphasis on natural colors as well as natural interior lights to play into the look of the homes and some lighting schemes for the scenes at night. Editor Santiago Ricci does excellent work with the editing to create some unique jump-cuts to play into the drama as well as the energy of the kids in their different activities. Set decorator Cristina Nigro and art director Graciela Oderigo do fantastic work with the look of Mecha‘s home and its sense of decay with lamps that barely work as it feels like a place that was once great but it‘s losing its beauty. The sound work of Herve Guyader, Emmanuel Croset, Guido Berenblum, and Adrian de Michele are incredible as it has this mix of sparse textures and layers of sounds from its opening sequence to moments where music is heard as all of the music that is played which adds to the film‘s naturalistic tone.
The casting by Florencia Blanco, Martin Mainoli, Luciana Rico, and Natalia Smirnoff is amazing as it features some notable small roles from Fabio Villafane as Isabel’s boyfriend Perro, Silvia Bayle as Jose’s much-older girlfriend Mercedes, Diego Baenas as Mecha’s youngest child in the one-eyed teenager Joaquin, Franco Veneranda as Tali’s eldest son Martin who likes to go hunting with Joaquin, Sebastian Montagna as Tali’s youngest son in the curious Luciano, Maria Micol Ellero as Tali’s youngest daughter in the energetic Mariana, Noelia Bravo Herrera as Tali’s eldest child in Augustina who helps with her older cousins cope with boredom, and Andrea Lopez as the young maid Isabel who deals with the idea of being fired as well as her own personal life. Juan Cruz Bordeau is terrific as Mecha’s eldest son Jose who is a man full of charm but is also a bit of a creep towards his own sisters. Leonora Balcare is superb as the older sister Veronica who copes with Jose’s presence while Sofia Bertolotto is wonderful as the younger sister Momi who copes with her own growing pains as she is secretly in love with Isabel.
Martin Adjemian is excellent as Mecha’s husband Gregorio as this man who is desperate to look young as he copes with aging and the growing disdain he’s getting from his wife. Daniel Valenzuela is fantastic as Tali’s husband Rafael who is very kind and helpful man as he would tell Tali to not to go to Bolivia while coping with the day-to-day things in his job and at home. Mercedes Moran is brilliant as Tali as this woman who lives in a working class town as she copes with trying to get things she needs for her children as well as other things in her life while helping Mecha out. Finally, there’s Graciela Borges in an amazing performance as Mecha as this rich yet unhappy woman who drowns her sorrows in drink as she complains about not having things get done as well as her children as she brings this very troubled yet sympathetic performance to a woman who is lost in her decaying lifestyle.
La Cienaga is a remarkable film from Lucrecia Martel. It’s a film that explores a family coming apart in their own world as well as the idea of class differences and how some cope with those differences. Even as it showcases those that are dealing with growing pains and the fears that they might end up like their own parents. In the end, La Cienaga is a phenomenal film from Lucrecia Martel.
Lucrecia Martel Films: The Holy Girl - The Headless Woman - Zama - The Auteurs #65: Lucrecia Martel
© thevoid99 2015
