La niña santa - The holy girl

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Movie
German title La niña santa - The holy girl
Original title La niña santa
Country of production United States , Argentina , Italy , Netherlands , Spain
original language Spanish
Publishing year 2004
length 106 minutes
Rod
Director Lucrecia Martel
script Lucrecia Martel,
Juan Pablo Domenech
production Lita Stantic
music Andres Gerszenzon
camera Félix Monti
cut Santiago Ricci
occupation

La niña santa - The holy girl (Original title: La niña santa ) is a film by the Argentine director Lucrecia Martel . It was released in Argentina on May 6, 2004. The international premiere took place on May 16, 2004 at the Cannes Film Festival , in whose competition it was screened . The film was co-produced by Pedro Almodóvar . It belongs to the so-called Salta trilogy, three of Martel's films set in her hometown.

action

The film is set in a shabby hotel in Salta that is hosting a conference for ENT specialists . The divorced hotel owner Helena feels like the attractive, sensitive Dr. Jano, one of the congress participants, was drawn. Jano, however, has a secret weakness for young girls. During a Theremin concert, he approaches an underage victim and rubs against him, apparently by chance. Back at the hotel, he discovers to his horror that the girl is Amalia, the hotel owner's daughter.

In a mixture of religious zeal and adolescent exuberance, Amalia is now convinced that Dr. To have to save Jano. She begins to chase after him and watch him. She also takes part in Bible studies with her friend Josefina. The girls spend their free time praying together, fantasizing about sex, and practicing kissing together.

Finally, Amalia claims that Dr. Jano was molested in one of the hotel rooms. However, the disaster that will likely break out is no longer shown in the film. In the last scene, Amalia and Josefina let themselves float in the hotel pool.

background

La niña Santa is the middle of the three films belonging to the Salta trilogy: Martel filmed La Ciénaga - Morast , then The Woman without a Head . The director herself grew up in Salta, a region in the north of Argentina that is predominantly Catholic and conservative. All the films in the trilogy are set there and have female protagonists. Like the other two films, La niña Santa takes place in the milieu of a middle class portrayed as decadent. Common features of the films are the static camera work, an elliptical, non-linear narrative style, as well as many close-ups and a hypnotic soundtrack.

According to Lucrecia Martel, the film is inspired by his own experiences. He plays in the hotel "Termas", which she visited as a child with her family.

reception

Peter Bradshaw compares La niña santa in the Guardian with a story by Nabokov or Ian McEwan . One notices the participation of Pedro Almodóvar in the film, whose film Everything about my mother the reviewer remembers in terms of plot and character drawing.

In Senses of Cinema, Carlota Larrea notices the strange noises in Martel's film, which together with voices and some music determine the sound level. Even mundane activities like getting up in the morning would be heightened by the sound level. The theremin, an electronic instrument that is played by the position of the hands but not touched, is a suitable choice for one of the key scenes. The protagonists in the film often misunderstand things or mishear each other.

According to the Independent's Jonathan Romney , Martel once again recommended herself as one of the most fascinating filmmakers in Argentina with this "deeply confusing" film.

So far, the film has received approval from 77 percent of Rotten Tomatoes critics and achieved an average rating of 6.9 out of a possible 10 points.

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Peter Bradshaw: La Niña Santa. In: The Guardian. February 4, 2005, accessed April 24, 2020 .
  2. ↑ a b c d Carlota Larrea: La Niña santa. In: Senses of Cinema. October 5, 2011, Retrieved April 25, 2020 (American English).
  3. ↑ La niña santa. In: Harvard Film Archive. Accessed April 25, 2020 (English).
  4. ↑ The cinema. In: Salzburg Film Culture Center. Retrieved May 1, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Jonathan Romney: La Niña Santa (15). In: The Independent. February 6, 2005, accessed April 30, 2020 .
  6. ↑ [1] In: Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved April 27, 2020.