La Mujer sin Cabeza (The Headless Woman) (2008)
70%RT Audience Score: 55%
Awards & Nominations: 9 wins & 19 nominations
Careful and slight, Lucretia Martel’s Headless Woman doesn’t fit neatly into a clear storyline, but supports itself with ethereal visuals
The Headless Woman is a wild ride that will leave you questioning everything you thought you knew about reality. With a plot that’s as elusive as a greased pig, Lucrecia Martel and María Onetto deliver a mind-bending performance that will leave you reeling. Don’t forget to bring your thinking cap and a strong cup of coffee, because this one will keep you guessing until the very end.
Production Company(ies)
Produzioni Europee Associate, Arturo González Producciones Cinematográficas, Constantin Film
Distributor
Strand Releasing
Release Type
Filming Location(s)
Salta, Argentina
MPAA / Certificate
Unrated
Year of Release
2008
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Digital
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Aspect ratio:2.35 : 1
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Runtime:1h 29m
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Language(s):Spanish
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Aug 19, 2009 Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 15, 2009
Genre(s)
Drama
Keyword(s)
starring María Onetto, César Bordón, Claudia Cantero, Daniel Genoud, Guillermo Arengo, Inés Efron, directed by Lucrecia Martel, written by Lucrecia Martel, produced by Agustín Almodóvar, Pedro Almodóvar, Tilde Corsi, Verónica Cura, drama, Spanish language, box office gross $99.8K, reviewed by Alyx Vesey, Jake Wilson, Keith Uhlich, Wesley Morris, Patrick Peters, Rosa Parra, PJ Nabarro, Clairefrisbie, Josh Larsen, Ernesto Diezmartinez, Martin Tsai, MPAA rating not specified, hit and run, psychological exploration, guilt, reality, upper middle class, social commentary, class guilt, bourgeoisie, power structure, corruption, loyalty, gender roles, bisexuality, open-ended thought exercise
Worldwide gross: $305,766
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $421,181
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,781
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 45,930
US/Canada gross: $100,177
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $137,990
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,610
US/Canada opening weekend: $14,778
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $20,356
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,506
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Claudia Cantero – Josefina
César Bordón – Marcos
Daniel Genoud – Juan Manuel
Guillermo Arengo – Marcelo
Inés Efron – Candita
Director(s)
Lucrecia Martel
Writer(s)
Lucrecia Martel
Producer(s)
Agustín Almodóvar, Pedro Almodóvar, Tilde Corsi, Verónica Cura
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
9 wins & 19 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (55) | Top Critics (19) | Fresh (42) | Rotten (13)
[A] deceptively plotless, taut, and intricate 89 minutes. This is to the credit of Martel and lead actress María Onetto, who is devastating as dentist Verónica.
December 30, 2020
Alyx Vesey
Bitch Media
TOP CRITIC
Keeping the viewer almost as much in the dark as the heroine, this 2008 puzzler from the talented Lucrecia Martel (Zama) is a challenge worth taking up.
October 5, 2018
Jake Wilson
The Age (Australia)
TOP CRITIC
An astounding portrait of a person entirely out of sync with her own existence.
November 16, 2011 | Rating: 5/5
Keith Uhlich
Time Out
TOP CRITIC
If Hitchcock and Antonioni ever had an interest in class guilt, you’d have Martel.
April 29, 2010 | Rating: 3.5/4
Wesley Morris
Boston Globe
TOP CRITIC
Slow-paced and self-indulgent in places but a bravely intense use of camera work to explore the internal psychology of the characters.
February 19, 2010 | Rating: 4/5
Patrick Peters
Empire Magazine
TOP CRITIC
In what could be one of the greatest films ever made about the emotional realities of a damaged mind, this giddily disorientating latest from Lucrecia Martel is a work of frenzied genius.
February 19, 2010 | Rating: 5/5
David Jenkins
Time Out
TOP CRITIC
Martel’s more political narrative brings a conventional plot to her normally plotless films. A thought-provoking look at a social-political dynamic that isn’t exclusive to just one country. A fantastic visual-audio storytelling approach.
July 3, 2022 | Rating: 4/5
Rosa Parra
Latinx Lens
Where other arthouse filmmakers use the slow aesthetic to draw out the glaringly obvious metaphors and subtexts of their narratives, Martel’s style is lucid and transcendent.
August 21, 2020 | Rating: 4/5
PJ Nabarro
Patrick Nabarro
A nice trip into a hazy world where truth is relative and quite beautiful at the same time.
April 9, 2019
Clairefrisbie
Remezcla
Don’t bring a guilty conscience to a viewing of The Headless Woman.
September 13, 2017 | Rating: 3.5/4
Josh Larsen
LarsenOnFilm
The Headless Woman is the closest thing to a genre film that has done Martel and, at the same time, is also the most twisted of all his films. [Full review in Spanish]
April 1, 2016
Ernesto Diezmartinez
Cine Vértigo
Ms. Martel here firmly establishes her mastery by exacting – amid a dream-like fog – suspense, horror, humor and sympathy from a protagonist who is so emotionally vacant and detached from the world.
October 7, 2015
Martin Tsai
Critic’s Notebook…
Plot
After hitting something with her car, Veronica’s guilt and grip on reality begin to unravel as all traces of her activities in the previous days disappear in Lucrecia Martel’s Headless Woman.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Nothing to add here about “The Headless Woman.”
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