The Headless Woman (2009) Directed by Lucrecia Martel
The Headless
Woman (2009)
Directed by Lucrecia Martel
(3 out of 4)
Martel structures the film in such a way as to never let the audience know any more than Victoria does, and we're left to ponder the very questions that she does. In this regard, "The Headless Woman" is almost like an Edgar Allen Poe short story, delving very much into a haunting and compelling man vs. self dilemma. It would be a mistake, however, to think that this is in anyway some kind of thriller; Martel builds paranoia in a very simple and mundane way, letting Veronica's blank stare and aimless wandering communicate her corrosive inner turmoil. There isn't so much a story arc or plot – and Veronica as a character doesn't really change – but this is a deliberate move on the part of the director to throw the audience off. We are every bit as lost and disoriented as she is, and it can often be unpleasant and downright hard to watch.
But what a feat! By the time the film is over (with its open-ended conclusion, refusing to let us off the hook with any kind of solid resolution), Martel has left the audience both breathless and frustrated. It's hard to tell whether "The Headless Woman" is a work of mysterious paranoia akin to Michaelangelo Antonioni's "L'avventura," or just a work of maddening pretension. The answer, I think, lies somewhere in between. It's not a masterpiece on the level of Antonioni's film (it may be even more maddeningly impenetrable, but it lacks that film's powerful atmosphere), nor is it a high-brow "Punk'd"-like stunt. It's deliberate form is impressive and it works as psychological character study, literally translating its protagonist's mental state into a cinematic language all its own.
Martel says of her inspiration for the film, "Last night I dreamt again. I was coming out of my Grandma’s house after a visit and, when looking for my car keys in my purse, I found a black hand. Dark skin. I realized I killed a black woman. The keys in my purse are not my car keys but the keys to an apartment where I am going and where I know the body is. I woke up crying and screaming. Who did the hand belong to? I guess the maid’s. Poor thing. And you never cry for the people you killed? Well, I hardly know them. This movie was created in the vapor of this conversation." I can think of no more apt description of this film than in that last sentence: “The Headless Woman” is a film made in the spirit of a vapor, lost in the disorienting fog of one woman's soul-ravaging fear. It works as a chilling meditation on guilt and as a commentary on class relations (the concept of a wealthy woman who may have run over a poor boy, and whose husband tries to cover her tracks, certainly suggests the latter) is, if nothing else, a remarkable example of film form serving as a psychological indicator. And while “The Headless Woman” is deliberately disorienting and can be even off-putting, the impression it leaves is hard to shake.
Last Word:
“The Headless Woman” presents a dark, disorienting journey into the mind of a woman ridden with guilt and fear over a homicide she may have committed. It’s often hard to watch but it’s always engrossing, and serves as a fascinating character study on a psychological level.
Review By:
Matthew Lucas, Staff Writer
IN REVIEW ONLINE
September 27, 2009
Comments Widget
HOME • FILM REVIEW • MUSIC REVIEW • FEATURES • YEARBOOK • ESSENTIALS • END OF RADIO
Subscribe Get InRO’s monthly emailer notifying you of new film and music related features and reviews.
Join the Team Want to write for InRO? Shoot us an email, tell us what you’re into (film, music or both) and include at least two examples of your writing in the chosen field for us to review.
Check out End of Radio We’ve spread our influence to the airwaves: Listen to InRO’s official music podcast, hosted by Music Editor Jordan Cronk and contributor Brian Webster.
Follow us on Twitter Because we tweet. Do you?