María Onetto is lost deep in thought through most of Argentine drama (photo courtesy of Strand Releasing)
THE HEADLESS WOMAN (LA MUJER SIN CABEZA)
(Lucrecia Martel, 2008)
Inspired by nightmares she has in which she commits murder, Lucrecia Martel’s THE HEADLESS WOMAN details a woman’s emotional and psychological reaction after having possibly killed someone. María Onetto gives a mesmerizingly cool, distant performance as Veronica, a middle-aged, upper class wife and mother whose biggest worry appears to be the turtles that have infested the new pool built behind a veterinary office. But one afternoon, while out driving carelessly in her Mercedes along a twisting, barren road, she hits something. Not sure if it was a child, an adult, or an animal, she decides to continue on, telling no one what she has done. But when a poor, local boy goes missing, she begins to suspect that she might have killed him. An intriguing mix of Buñuel’s class-consciousness and Poe’s flair for suspense, THE HEADLESS WOMAN is an unusual kind of murder mystery. In Veronica, Argentine writer-director Martel (LA CIENAGA, THE HOLY GIRL) has created a compelling protagonist/villain, played with expert calm and faraway eyes by Onetto.