This provocative, lyrical drama mixes themes of forbidden sexuality and redemptive faith with a touch of humanism in a memorable, if disorienting, visual style.
This provocative, lyrical drama mixes themes of forbidden sexuality and redemptive faith with a touch of humanism in a memorable, if disorienting, visual style.
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Average Rating: 3.3/5
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Lucrecia Martel directed this potent drama of love, sex, misunderstanding, and coming-of-age. Amalia (María Alche) is a girl edging into her early teens who has begun to ripen into adulthood. Amalia lives in a big hotel owned and operated by her divorced mother, Helena (Mercedes Morán), and her uncle Freddy (Alejandro Urdapilleta). Amalia and her best friend, Josefina (Julieta Zylberberg), are becoming increasingly aware of their own desires and are curious about sex, but between their Catholic
education and Helena's unwillingness to discuss such matters with her daughter, their speculation outstrips their actual knowledge. A convention for medical workers brings Dr. Jano (Carlos Belloso) and a number of his colleagues to the hotel. Emboldened by the festive atmosphere, the timid doctor presses his body up against Amalia's, unaware of her age. The married Dr. Jano is embarrassed by his actions and troubled by his strong attraction to Helena; Amalia, meanwhile, is convinced the doctor has become overcome with unholy lust, and she and Josefina take it upon themselves to save him from himself before it is too late. La Niña Santa (aka The Holy Child) was produced in part by internationally acclaimed filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Ultimately turns out to be something of a bore, a film that, like one of its main characters, wanders around touching on subjects and then fleeing before connecting fully.
In some ways, this quiet and moody character study is a more realistic and less titillating version of Lolita. Certainly it's far less of a male fantasy . . . .
Obviously, this one is not for all tastes, but it is an impressive showing for Argentine filmmaker Martel, who's managed to do Almodovar-type material every bit as well as her mentor.
Alche's crooked grin is as gleeful as the nose-wriggling enchantress in Bewitched. The elliptically implicit ending reminds me of Purple Noon minus the murder.
The subtly sinister atmosphere is certainly striking...but the story is so fragmentary and allusive that trying to make much sense of it is rather like grasping at smoke.
"The Holy Girl" is one of the most boring films I've ever seen. Set in a hotel during a doctors' conference, it chronicles myriad banalities such as people having lunch together silently. Then we watch maids doing laundry. Then the children of hotel employees take religion classes together. Then teenage girls wash
their hair, etc. One banal sequence after another.
One girl who lives at the hotel starts to have feelings of longing for one of the doctors at the conference after he touches her in a provocative way one day. She starts following him around the hotel, and he tries to avoid her. The girl's mother also develops a mild crush on this doctor, which is hard to understand because he barely ever speaks or does anything interesting. Almost no one says anything interesting. There is practically no script at all.
I cannot understand what writer/director Lucrecia Martel thought was so interesting about all these banalities. Her most recent film, "The Headless Woman," was vastly more interesting. By contrast, "The Holy Girl" has almost no content whatsoever. This is a must-avoid.
November 30, 2009
William Dunmyer
Super Reviewer
In "The Holy Girl", Helena(Mercedes Moran), a divorcee with a teenaged daughter, Amalia(Maria Alche), works at a hotel hosting a convention of doctors. Amalia is so devout it occasionally spooks her mother, and is wondering how best she can serve Christ. An opportunity presents itself when one of the doctors at the
hotel, Dr. Jano(Carlos Bellos), fondles Amalia at an outdoor musical performance. Instead of confronting or reporting him, this only serves to pique Amalia's curiosity..."The Holy Girl" is an unconventional movie that takes a low-key approach to potentially controversial material. It is a meditation on duality.(Would it be too much of a stretch to point out that Janus was the Roman god represented by two faces?) Amalia is very religious; wants to wait until marriage before having sex but still has physical longings. Dr. Jano is a respected doctor and family man but is also quite the pervert.(And he is not the only doctor to behave differently away from home.)
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