Lucrecia Martelis one of the most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. This Argentine director, screenwriter, and producer has worked on a number of short films and a few feature films, all internationally acclaimed. Martel was born and raised in the province of Salta, but she later moved to Buenos Aires to pursue her passion for filmmaking. She eventually ventured into short film directing, making her directorial debut withEl 56. Among her most notable short films areBesos RojosandRey Muerto, which is considered a cornerstone of the New Argentine Cinema.
Following several years working on short films and TV series, Martel made her feature debut in 2001 withLa Ciénaga, a film that remains among the bestLatin American moviesto date and for which she earned numerous awards, including the Alfred Bauer Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival and Best Director, Best Actress, Best Sound, and Grand Coral at the Havana Film Festival. Her subsequent movies also won many accolades, and were even nominated for a Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival. In 2019, three of her feature films were included in theBBC’s list of the Top 100 films directed by women. Let’s have a look at all the movies Martel directed.
4La Niña Santa (The Holy Girl)
La Niña Santais Martel’s second feature film with thelegendary Pedro Almodóvar, Lita Stantic, Agustín Almodóvar, and Esther García as producers. This 2004 picture, co-produced by Argentina, Spain, and Italy, stars Mercedes Morán, Carlos Belloso, Alejandro Urdapilleta, María Alché, Julieta Zylberberg, Mónica Villa, and Marta Lubos, and earned a Palme d’Or nomination at the Cannes Film Festival.
La Niña Santawas co-written by Martel and Pablo Domenech and, like most of her movies, is set in the north of the country. In this case, the main setting is a run-down hot springs hotel in which Helena and Freddy, as siblings and owners, live. The woman has a teenage daughter named Amalia, who regularly attends Catholic groups at church with her friend Josefina.
But as they strengthen their devotion to religion and God’s call, they also undergo a sexual awakening. The hotel hosts a medical conference, and that is how Amalia meets Dr. Jano, a married doctor who was clearly interested in her own mother, and also had some inappropriate attitudes towards the girl. But Amalia herself has an idea in mind: to save this prestigious professional from falling into sin and temptation, in the belief that this is the divine mission she has been waiting for.
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3La Mujer Sin Cabeza (The Headless Woman)
This 2008 film follows an utterly harrowing journey through the life of Veronica, a renowned dentist who accidentally runs over something while driving on the road. Oblivious, the woman keeps on driving, thinking that it must have been a dog. Yet, soon her daily routine is disrupted, as Veronica starts to think that she might have killed a child. Fears and doubts take hold of her, consuming her from within and affecting every aspect of her life, and just when she manages to get through all this, things get worse: a corpse is discovered on the road, very close to the place where she had the accident.
La Mujer Sin Cabezaallows the audience to go through this situation from a first-person perspective, conveying all the emotions of the main character perfectly, but at the same time leaving each person’s interpretation to their own will. This is a co-production between Argentina, France, Italy, and Spain, starring María Onetto, Claudia Cantero, César Bordón, Daniel Genoud, Guillermo Arengo, Inés Efron, and María Vaner.
The 2017 filmZamais, so far, Martel’s most recent film, and it differs greatly from her other productions: it is not a contemporary story, it does not take place in Salta, and it is not a screenplay created by Lucrecia, but based on a novel by Antonio Di Benedetto. Set in the late-18th Century,Zamafollows Don Diego de Zama, a Spanish Crown official who is sent to work in Asunción, Paraguay. Don Diego leaves his life and his family behind, and encounters a new, much lonelier existence, which he hopes will lead him to a better future. The civil servant spends his days waiting to be transferred to Buenos Aires, as recognition for his work, but this goal seems impossible to achieve.
As he waits forever, Don Diego slowly degrades. Deeply distressed and tired of longing, the man decides to join a group of soldiers who set out for distant lands to capture a dangerous bandit, a mission that may restore his hopes and will to live. This production stars Daniel Giménez, Lola Dueñas, Matheus Nachtergaele, and Juan Minujín, and premiered at the Venice International Film Festival.
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1La Ciénaga (The Swamp)
La Ciénagawas Martel’s film debut, and to this day remains her best-remembered and most acclaimed production. This 2001 film stars Graciela Borges, Mercedes Morán, Martín Adjemián, and Daniel Valenzuela, and was co-produced between Argentina, France and Spain.La Ciénagaintroduces two families scarred by misfortune. On one side, we have Mecha and her children, a family of well-positioned but decadent rural producers. On the other is Tali, Mecha’s cousin, who leads a more modest life with her husband and four children.
In a sweltering summer, where a storm is about to burst, all these people are forced to live together in La Mandrágora, a decaying property in the town of La Ciénaga, where everything seems to be stagnant, but at the same time, tension builds up and the situation is on the verge of exploding. This production is marked by discomfort, by a sense that nothing is happening when, in fact, thousands of things are going on. A masterpiece of Argentine cinema that truly belongs in any watchlist.
