Amalia, a single child, lives with her divorced mother, Helena, and her uncle, Freddy, in the quaint, run-down Hotel Termas, which the family owns and operations. When not at choir rehersals, Amalia and her best friend, Josefina, spend a lot of time in the classroom, seeking further education on vocation and faith. When ENT physicians gather at the hotel for a medical convention, middle-aged and married Dr. Jano immediately is drawn to Amalia. When a crowd of people gather to watch a street performer, Dr. Jano presses himself against Amalia in a sexual maner, though he immediately is digusted with his actions. Meanwhile, Amalie begins to find herself drawn to Dr. Jano, believing he is her vocation. Lucrecia Martel's The Holy Girl is an intimate piece of filmmaking that subtely explores burgeoning sexuality and religious devoutness among a young impressionable woman. The Holy Girl isn't so much a coming of age story in the traditional sense but more a portrait of the power of our primal desires, with all characters in the film, including Amalia's own mother, desiring something that is missing from her life. The film exposes how religious beliefs can confuse the impressionable young mind, manipulating their values of love. Martel's films feature some of the most unique compositions in contemporary cinema, with The Holy Girl routinely capturing its characters among large groups of people, using the framing to single them out, as well as remind the viewer how their situations are not unique. Reserved, nuanced and elusive, Lucrecia Martel's The Holy Girl is a fascinating exploration of sexual desire, religion, and guilt
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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