La niña santa (2004)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Lucrecia Martel

Writers:

Juan Pablo Domenech (contributing writer)
Lucrecia Martel (written by)

Release Date:

6 May 2004 (Argentina)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

16-year-old Amalia (Alche) looks to save the soul a middle-aged doctor (Belloso).

Plot Keywords:

Hotel | Teen | Doctor | Lesbian Kiss | Schoolgirl Crush

Awards:

3 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Mercedes Morán	...	Helena
Carlos Belloso	...	Dr. Jano
Alejandro Urdapilleta	...	Freddy
María Alche	...	Amalia
Julieta Zylberberg	...	Josefina
Mía Maestro	...	Inés
Marta Lubos	...	Mirta
Arturo Goetz	...	Dr. Vesalio
Alejo Mango	...	Dr. Cuesta
Mónica Villa	...	Madre de Josefina
Leandro Stivelman	...	Julian
Manuel Schaller	...	Thermin player
Miriam Diaz	...	Miriam
Rodolfo Cejas	...	Josefina's father
Maria Victoria Mosca Coll	...	Local girl
Ornella Velazco	...	Local girl
Guadalupe Pardo Hernandez	...	Local girl
Ana Carolina Beltran	...	Local girl
Rodolfo Cabrera	...	Manuel the plumber
Maria Susana Falcon	...	Josefina's aunt
Guillermo Enrique Castro	...	Lad in accident
Victor Anuch	...	Juan Pablo
Sebastian Diaz Sabala	...	Juan Pablo's friend
Maria Micol Ellero	...	Josefina's sister
Sebastián Montagna	...	Josefina's brother
Maria Emilia Martinez	...	Josefina's sister
Guido Nunez	...	Medical consultant
Nilda Silvia Suarez	...	Photocopier woman
Ana Maria Fernandez	...	Jano's wife
Carlos Silvio Poma	...	Dr. Lara
Eduardo Jesus Chaig	...	Doctor
Juan Solis	...	Doctor
Roberto Bernacki	...	Doctor
Oscar Victoriano Sarmiento	...	Doctor
David Daniel Torino	...	Doctor
Eliana Santillan	...	Servant
Alejandro Leonidas Diaz	...	Pool worker
Florinda Rosa Guamante	...	Caretaker
David Mansilla	...	Hotel porter
Pablo Arias	...	Hotel porter
Marcos Reynoso	...	Phone assistant

Directed by
Lucrecia Martel

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Juan Pablo Domenech		contributing writer
Lucrecia Martel		written by

Produced by
Agustín Almodóvar	....	co-producer: El Deseo S.A.
Pedro Almodóvar	....	executive producer
Tilde Corsi	....	associate producer
Esther García	....	executive producer
Alfredo Ghirardo	....	co-producer
Nora Kohen	....	co-producer
Cesare Petrillo	....	associate producer
Vieri Razzini	....	associate producer
Gianni Romoli	....	associate producer
Lita Stantic	....	producer
Álvaro Urtizberea	....	co-producer

Original Music by
Andres Gerszenzon

Cinematography by
Félix Monti

Film Editing by
Santiago Ricci

Casting by
Nicolas Levin
Natalia Smirnoff

Art Direction by
Graciela Oderigo

Set Decoration by
Fernando Brun

Costume Design by
Julio Suárez

Makeup Department
Marisa Amenta	....	makeup artist
Marcelo Iúdice	....	hair stylist
Etelvina Veron	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Matías Mosteirín	....	production director
Marta Parga	....	production manager
Marta Parga	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Florencia Blanco	....	assistant director
Natalia Smirnoff	....	assistant director
Fabiana Tiscornia	....	assistant director

Art Department
Alvear Angelica	....	set dresser
Martín Libert	....	property master

Sound Department
Guido Berenblum	....	sound
Marcos De Aguirre	....	sound
David Miranda	....	sound
Victor Alejandro Tendler	....	sound

Visual Effects by
Sergio Rentero	....	visual effects supervisor
Rodrigo S. Tomasso	....	digital restoration (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Lucas Guidalevich	....	film recorder operator: Cineon
Daniel Hermo	....	gaffer
Manuel Rebella	....	electrician
Victor Vasini	....	film recorder operator: Cineon

Other crew
Gustavo Guido	....	production assistant
Carola Jalife	....	continuity

Production Companies

• La Pasionaria S.r.l.
• R&C Produzioni
• Teodora Film
• El Deseo S.A.
• Fondazione Montecinemaverita
• Hubert Bals Fund
• Lita Stantic Producciones

Distributors

• Alfa Films (2004) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Cinemien (2005) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Fine Line Features (2005) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• HBO Films (2004) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Monopole-Pathé (2005) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• Pyramide Distribution (2004) (France) (theatrical)
• Stadtkino Verleih (2005) (Austria) (theatrical)
• Artificial Eye (2005) (UK) (all media)
• Homescreen (2006) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Transeuropa Video Entertainment (TVE) (2004) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Transeuropa Video Entertainment (TVE) (2004) (Argentina) (VHS)

Also Known As:

The Holy Girl (International: English title) (USA)

MPAA:

Rated R for some sexual content and brief nudity.

Runtime:

106 min

Country:

Argentina | Italy | Netherlands | Spain

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Netherlands:12 | Austria:12 | Belgium:KT | Canada:PG | Italy:T | USA:R (certificate #41466) | Argentina:13 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | France:U | UK:15 | Brazil:14

Filming Locations:

Salta, Argentina

Company:

La Pasionaria S.r.l.

Soundtrack:

Cara de Gitana

A Seemingly Great Film

More admirable than attractive is Lucrecia Martel's "The Holy Girl" – even at this time I am feeling a steady amount of ambivalence toward this maddeningly beautiful film. Is this kind of paradoxical relationship even possible? Even the proverbial sinner in his love/hate toward expiation seems dubious.

The film follows Amalia and her friend Josefina's exploits as they navigate their way through a summer of adolescence. Sanctimonious doesn't even begin to describe them – indeed, Amalia is wanting to screw a man she's trying to "save" while Josefina regards her Catholic school teacher with disdain due to the good teacher's sexual adventures even though Josefina herself takes it up the arse from her horny boyfriend. This shopworn irony regarding the duality and dialectical impulses in hormonal, affectedly pious people grows wearisome on the attention span.

Okay, but I used the adjective "beautiful" earlier. And it most certainly is from a logistical standpoint. The DP composed seemingly interminable, achingly gorgeous shots of the action. He had no qualms about not using deep-focus photography (in which everything in the frame is in focus). This style harks back to the old American B&W's in which they were not afraid to focus on only one piece of the frame while leaving the rest in a blurry discombobulation. A power erupts from the screen the more pronounced these shots are. However, it must be said, the steady frequency of all this becomes stultifying to an annoying degree – like chocolate in endless supply, it becomes too much of a good thing.

This cloying film would have been great if it didn't try so hard to be a great film. Art house flicks mostly subscribe to an overly snobby and abundantly complex ideological schema. Is a show-off praiseworthy? Not in this case.