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The Headless Woman
Metascore
81 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 12 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 12
  3. Negative: 1 out of 12
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  1. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: G. Allen Johnson
    100
    Martel's vision is so visually rich and complex it borders on the impressionistic, but The Headless Woman would be nowhere without the precise tour de force performance by Onetto.
  2. Time Out New York
    Reviewed by: Keith Uhlich
    100
    No simplistic status parable. It's more a psychological snapshot of a person forever doomed to remain a voyeur to her own life
  3. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    100
    Brilliant, maddeningly enigmatic puzzle of a movie.
  4. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Scott Tobias
    91
    A remarkably nuanced, ever-evolving performance (Marķa Onetto).
  5. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Wesley Morris
    88
    This is also the first of Martel's films to build in a direction other than up. The film's lateral movement continues a kind of class commentary.
  6. Empire
    Reviewed by: Patrick Peters
    80
    Slow-paced and self-indulgent in places but a bravely intense use of camera work to explore the internal psychology of the characters.
  7. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: David Edelstein
    80
    Guilt and alienation from Argentina's Lucrecia Martel, so arty, enervated, and allegorical it might have been made by a European in the early sixties.
  8. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: J. Hoberman
    80
    As dense and fluid as Martel's movie is, the viewer--like the protagonist--is compelled to live in the moment. And a rich moment it is.
  9. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kevin Thomas
    70
    Not the supernatural horror picture its title suggests, but this subtle, elliptical film evokes its own kind of nightmarish situation.
  10. Variety
    Reviewed by: Leslie Felperin
    70
    A simpler and more taut, if slightly less interesting version of the oblique but mesmerizing studies of family life in fetid, hothouse atmospheres the Argentine helmer offered up in "La cienaga" and "The Holy Girl."
  11. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Matthew Sorrento
    50
    As promising as the premise sounds, it cannot rise from the mundane.
  12. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: Andy Klein
    25
    The disjointedness of The Headless Woman might be the result of narrative complexity or of directorial ineptitude or (my favorite) of narrative complexity mangled by directorial ineptitude. If the residual fog ever clears, maybe I'll be able to tell you for sure.
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User Reviews

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User Score
6.4 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 19 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 2
  3. Negative: 1 out of 2
  1. ryancarroll88
    2
    0-45 min: What the **** is going on?? ; 45 min: Oh ****! ; 45-55 min: ....... ; 55-58 min: Whoa! ; 58-90 min: ........ ; Conclusion: The subconscious is a **** Oh, and women suck at driving.… Full Review »
  2. DanielP.
    5
    The film have an interesting story but the way that Lucrecia made the movie is a little boring and got short key parts.
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