The Virgin of the Quarry lake

An intimate look into the mind and behaviors of the main character Natalia marks the beginning of the film. An ultra-tight frame on her twisting expressions is soon interrupted by the action taking place outside the home where she lives with her grandmother Rita.  

 A neighbor is battering a homeless man until Rita steps in per Natalia’s request. Right off the bat, the air of potential class and racial tension hits the viewer acutely. The homeless man leaves behind a shopping cart, which is portrayed as grotesque and overflowing. This becomes a recurring image throughout the film.  

 The story follows three teenage girls as they navigate the experience of teen hood in the thick of Argentina’s 2001 economic crisis. Natalia and her two friends Jose and Mari fall in love with Diego. The girls seem to be hyper-fixated on sexuality and male validation, which plays an interesting role in the storyline.   

 There seems to be a leader/follower dynamic between Natalia and her two friends. The film primarily leans into Natalia’s psyche and world, with Jose and Mari’s worlds seemingly manifested as reflections of Natalia’s. They want similar things, they do similar things, they dress similarly, etc. to Natalia.   

 Tight establishing shots lead the viewer to really focus on the main characters. The extreme state of civil unrest isn’t lost, but it’s less about that and much more about the main characters. The subtle nuance within the focus rings through the whole film. There’s a pendulum swing between intense events and teenage shenanigans that really builds tension into the climax. 

 When Diego starts spending time with Sylvia, a much older and more explicitly adult character, Natalia’s jealousy starts to shine through. At first, her behavior seems like maybe she’s trying to act cool because she thinks Sylvia is cool, but it becomes clear this isn’t the case. Natalia’s covetous animosity for Sylvia grows and becomes more explicit as the film rolls.  

 One evening, Natalia and her friends express distaste for Sylvia to Rita, at which point the story takes a turn toward the supernatural. Rita puts Sylvia’s name into a jar with water and a doll and places it upon a shelf.   

 The cinematography really shines in the moments of Natalia’s jealousy, with it being so all encompassing it affects those around her. Sounds become isolated to sounds of obscurity and intensity. Slow zooms on Natalia in moments of intensity paired with obscene and macabre scenes bring about a sense of unease to viewers.  

 By the end, it becomes clear the events of the movie weren’t just unfortunate but by design. The final build and release is a gruesome full circle moment, unsettlingly wrapping the story up in a bloodied ribbon.  

 Natalia’s rise into her own power and descent into madness mirrors the surrounding region’s continual downfall into chaos. The flashes of the shopping cart parallel the jarring events of the film. By the end, it was difficult to reckon with what had just played out on screen, leaving a bitter taste in the mouth and a sour image in the mind.