Overview
A woman's life spirals into chaos after a fateful accident, leaving her questioning reality.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Slow
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Dense
- Violence
- Mild
- eerie
- contemplative
- oppressive
- quiet evening
- arthouse cinema night
What critics said
Critics broadly praised the film’s ethereal visuals, atmospheric sound design, and María Onetto’s performance while noting its deliberately unclear storyline.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Vero becomes disoriented after the car incident, while the absent hospital and hotel records undermine her attempt to reconstruct what happened.
The car’s rattling impact, obstructed viewpoints, and atmospheric audiovisual design turn routine spaces into sources of uncertainty.
Vero’s bourgeois social network and the disappearance of institutional evidence suggest that privilege shapes the consequences of the hit-and-run.
The film never settles whether the incident and its aftermath occurred as Vero remembers them or were distorted by her mind.
Films like The Headless Woman, and why
Caché
ambiguous psychological mystery, bourgeois social critique, and elliptical storytelling
Personal Shopper
subjective perception, unresolved guilt, and formally disorienting drama
The Piano Teacher
slow-burn psychological tension, social class unease, and destabilized reality
Burning
atmospheric ambiguity, fractured consciousness, and understated moral dread
Movie Details
- Director
- Lucrecia Martel
- Release Date
- 2008-08-21
- Runtime
- 87 min
- Rating
- 6.2 / 10 (137)
Cast
- María Onetto
- Claudia Cantero
- César Bordón
- Guillermo Arengo
- Inés Efrón
- María Vaner
- Daniel Genoud
- Alicia Muxo
- Pía Uribelarrea
- Andrea Verdun
Where to watch in United States
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Headless Woman about?
- After a bourgeois Argentine woman may hit someone with her car, guilt and fractured perception dissolve the boundary between reality and denial.
- What is The Headless Woman like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Headless Woman as slow, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as dense.
- Is The Headless Woman violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in The Headless Woman as mild.
- What did critics think of The Headless Woman?
- Critics broadly praised the film’s ethereal visuals, atmospheric sound design, and María Onetto’s performance while noting its deliberately unclear storyline.
- Which films are like The Headless Woman?
- Films with a similar feel include Caché, Personal Shopper, The Piano Teacher, and Burning.
- How long is The Headless Woman?
- The Headless Woman runs 87 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Headless Woman?
- In United States, The Headless Woman is available to rent or buy from Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home.
