Perturbed Genders in Lucrecia Martel

Abstract

In Martel’s second feature film, La niña santa (The Holy Girl, 2004), water and sound cross the contours of the body and spread throughout the film like substances that permeate the membranes of the skin. The film’s fluidity, sounds, silences, and whispers are filled with a desire circulatingin the depths of intimacy, much like twisting, moist, and zigzagging vibrations. The nomadic figures of hesitation and suspense alter the fundamentals of sedentary fiction, echoing a liquid form of desire.