a film by Lucrecia Martel
Set in La Salta in north-western Argentina, sixteen-year-old schoolgirl Amalia lives with her mother, the manager of a shabby hotel which is hosting a medical conference. When a stranger makes a crude pass at her in a crowded street, Amalia later discovers that the man is in fact one of the distinguished conference attendees, Dr Jano, who is staying at her family's hotel. She is upset but takes his inappropriate action as a sign that her faith has given her a mission.
Inés, a young Catholic teacher, is leading a group of girls in choir practice. After rehearsals the girls get together to discuss faith and vocation. The subject of discussion is the student's "mission" and how they can recognise the signs that point to God's calling. Amalia and her best friend, Josefina, whisper secretly about kissing, constantly making references to the teacher's alleged love affairs. Josefina is from a conservative family who live not far from the now run-down Hotel Termas where Amalia lives with her mother Helena, a divorcée, and the rest of her family.
While Amalia is standing in a crowd watching a musician in the street, Dr Jano makes a lewd advance. Initially shocked, Amalia proceeds to stalk him, and consumed by the heady combination of her fervent religious education and burgeoning sexuality, she resolves to save the respected doctor's soul but finds herself caught in a confusing web of frustration, desire and anticipation. Never sure whether she is erring on the side of sin or vocational service, she embarks on a mission that brings both their worlds to the brink of collapse.
Amalia's story is partly about an adolescent girl's discovery of her sexual vulnerability and the sexual power she possesses. Lucrecia Martel describes her film as one which explores good and evil – not the battle between them, but the difficulty distinguishing one from the other. She also comments on comparisons between medicine and holiness – both can lead to good, both can corrupt. The director's remarkable second feature, in which the story unfolds in glimpses and whispered conversations as an intimate series of minimalist vignettes, is an enigmatic and absorbing study of the temptation of good, and the evil that it causes.
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