Dir. Lucrecia Martel, 2004, Argentina, Spanish with English subtitles, 106 mins
Cast: Mercedes Moran, Carlos Belloso With the Almodovar brothers as Executive Producers, this second feature from up and coming Argentinian director Lucrecia Martel sounds promising enough on paper. It focuses on a tight knit dysfunctional family who live and work in a hotel and the events that unfold during a medical convention based there. La Nina Santa translates as The Holy Girl and indeed the presence of Catholicism is present throughout from choir rehearsals to parish church discussions for the young teenagers. Sadly though the film is messy and overlong and what could have been a tight dissection on modern day morality and sex is instead woolly and sprawling. Part of the reason for this is Martel's over ambition. She tries to cram too many issues into the film. There's Catholicism itself (perhaps she should have asked Pedro for some advice on this one), the tricky subject of adult desire for young girls represented by the creepy Dr Jano, a randy middle aged doctor with a penchant for both girls and women, the burgeoning sexuality of teenagers as depicted by best friends Josefina and Amalia and the search for love from Amalia's somewhat lonely mother, Helena. Dr Jano's attraction to the young and plain-looking Amalia is confused and somewhat verging towards paedophilia. There's not a hint of the little Lolita, instead Amalia seems to verge towards simpleton rather than sexy. At the beginning of the film, Dr Jano rubs himself up against her in a street crowd and Amalia seems to enjoy the experience. She even goes so far as to later seek him out again in a crowd and present herself to him so that the scene can be repeated. Meanwhile, Amalia's lonesome mother Helena meets Dr Jano in his professional guise at the hotel and lo and behold also finds him attractive. Now herein lies a rather large hole in the plot of La Nina Santa. Dr Jano is tall, half bald, wears glasses and has a somewhat nervous disposition. The typical nerd. He doesn't seem to have much personality either and it seems rather implausible that either Amalia and her mother find him remotely attractive. Somewhat bizarrely, in the notes accompanying the film, Dr Jano is presented as an innocent "caught up in a web of good intentions". How very strange. What exactly does Martel think the good intentions are of a grown man rubbing himself up against a young girl not once but twice? Where are the good intentions of same man in almost starting an affair with the girl's mother when he is married himself? Granted, he is unaware that Helena and Amalia are related but this hardly lets him off the moral hook. Towards the end of the film, Jano's wife and children turn up and there's a bit of a nasty twist in the tale. His own daughter bears more than a slight resemblance to the young Amalia. Whether this is intentional or not, it means that Jano's flirtation with Amalia can only be interpreted as having more sinister roots. Meanwhile, Amalia herself decides that she's going to save Jano from sin and starts following him around in order to speak to him direct. This is the only tiny hint of plot that connects with the otherwise irrelevant title. When Amalia finally manages to corner him, she tries to kiss him! At this point there was a general sigh of exasperation from all in the cinema. What exactly is Martel's point in all of this? Men are fallible? Children can be attracted to older people sexually? Does anyone care at this point? From here, it seems that the film can't get worse, but it does. In a long and convoluted plot twist, Dr Jano's brief encounters with Amalia look set to be made public to all at the convention. At last, the sinner will be made to acknowledge his deeds. Except. Except the credits roll and we're left to imagine the rest ourselves. A lazy end to the film if ever there was one. The film is not without its moments though. The scenes between Amalia and her friend Josefina are particularly touching and the cinematography is quite enchanting with extreme close-ups on the girls soft skin. Its not enough to carry the film though and with this being Martel's second feature, she really should have known better. There's always something guilt inducing about criticising a female director, there's not enough of them around anyway, but it seems unlikely that Martel will enjoy the luxury of support from the likes of the Almodovars for long if she continues to make such turgid rubbish. One can only hope that she focuses on fewer issues next time and at least attempts a form of closure if only to avoid reviews like this one. Elizabeth Hyder |
