Extraños Patrones: The Films of Lucrecia Martel

Since the release of La ciénaga in 2001, Argentine director Lucrecia Martel has emerged as one of the most highly regarded art cinema directors on the international scene. With thorough analyses of her three feature films, my thesis aims to define Martel as an auteur. From La ciénaga (The Swamp) to La niña santa (The Holy Girl, 2004) to La mujer sin cabeza (The Headless Woman, 2008), Martel has progressively narrowed her focus to fewer and fewer central characters, yet many of the strategies with which she captivates and confounds viewers and critics alike remain the same. With each chapter, I analyze the interaction between Martel's style, the viewer, and the particular structure and themes of each film.