THE HEADLESS WOMAN
(La mujer sin cabeza)
2008, 87’
Director: Lucrecia Martel
Countries: Argentina, France, Italy, Spain
Distributor: Teodora Film
Language: o.v. Spanish with English subtitles
Veronica is driving to northern Argentina when, distracted by her cellphone, she hits something with her car. In shock, during the days that follow she remains confused but begins to realize that she may have run into someone. She confesses this to her husband and together they return to the scene of the accident, but they only find the body of a dead dog. Reassured by her husband and friends, Veronica goes back to her normal life and dismisses the incident until news of the discovery of a dead body throws everything into question.
Lucrecia Martel’s third feature film, about the existential and emotional state of a woman, The Headless Woman can be thought of as the third part of a trilogy, following La ciénaga and The Holy Girl. This is a highly personal and political film, in which the estrangement and alienation from reality of the main character is a symptom of the indifference and non-involvement of a social class―the Argentine middle class―which despises both itself and the others. It was entered in the 2008 Cannes Film Festival competition.
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