The Headless Woman

[A] deceptively plotless, taut, and intricate 89 minutes. This is to the credit of Martel and lead actress María Onetto, who is devastating as dentist Verónica.

Keeping the viewer almost as much in the dark as the heroine, this 2008 puzzler from the talented Lucrecia Martel (Zama) is a challenge worth taking up.

An astounding portrait of a person entirely out of sync with her own existence.

The Headless Woman puts the viewer into the headspace of a woman imprisoned by her own paranoia and mirrors the constricting reality of Argentina’s political atmosphere at the time.