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Review

Her debut feature La Ciénaga made director Lucrecia Martel one of the brightest figures of the new Argentinean cinema. In her follow-up film The Holy Girl, Martel intimately explores the burgeoning sexuality and religious fervor of two teenage girls, Amalia and Josefina, giggling comrades who whisper jokes during high school classes. The paradoxical stirrings of pubescent desire, and their own devotion to God, tug at their hearts in ways that will push the limits of friendship. Amalia, daughter of a divorcée who lives in a dilapidated hotel, experiences her first encounter with carnal desire while innocently standing in a crowd as a man rubs himself against her in a slight but unmistakably obscene gesture. Meanwhile, Josefina has a lover that she must keep secret. Then Amalia discovers that her mysterious pervert, whose soul she wants to save, is actually Dr. Jano, a physician staying at her hotel who has initiated a relationship with Amalia's mother Helena. All of these percolating secret agendas eventually lead to an unavoidable collision with fate. Sexuality and spirituality propel this South American coming-of-age drama, a meditation on personal allegiance, family devotion and the rules of attraction. Lucrecia Martel's film builds tension with a subtle, steady hand, using the same unflinching insights into the awkwardness and vulnerability of human nature that fueled her acclaimed debut. Quiet encounters, offhand remarks and casual epiphanies: even the most seemingly trivial moments become revelations under Martel’s direction.

 -- Michael Chaiken