The Headless Woman reviewed

The entwining of a foreground story with a background one is an interesting idea. The problem with The Headless Woman is that the foreground narrative lacks any hint of dramatic tension or interest, it is extremely confusing with a multitude of characters who are almost surplus to the film; and the background story, a critique of the corrupt power of Argentinian elites exercised behind phones calls and the like, is underdeveloped and weak. The last scene raises the tension to some degree, but by then is far too late, and still quite anaemic.

The cinematic treatment is openly self-indulgent, with lingering shots which go too long with the only purpose of, well, being lingering shots.  The main character, a female dentist in the northern Argentinian city of Salta, is simply not credible.

The film jusr goes on and on, perhaps it could have been a good short. Lucrecia Martel, who writes the scripts of her own films, could have benefited from doing what Michael Haneke did for The White Ribbon: to bring in a good professional script writer to sharpen it up.

In short, an interesting idea spoilt by an anaemic and self-indulgent cinematic treatment. The film offered so much, and yet, delivered so little. It does prove that fancy cinematography cannot make up for a lousy screenplay.