5 - Muta: Monstrosity and Mutation

Summary

Starting from the short film Muta (2011), produced by the clothing brand Miu Miu in the context of the Women's Tales project, this chapter discusses the recurring flirtation with the horror genre in Lucrecia Martel's work, while occasionally referencing other films such as The Swamp/La ciénaga (2001) and The Headless Woman/La mujer sin cabeza (2008). ‘Muta’ can refer to both speechlessness and mutation: in the fairytale-like enigmatic universe of the film, a ship that floats on the waters of the Paraná River is occupied only by women: a group of slender young models who, at night, appear to metamorphose into dragonflies. Thus, the objective of this chapter is to call into question two central aspects of the short film: the ideas of monstrosity and mutation. We seek, therefore, to observe the way the film navigates different references like Asian horror and the world of fashion.

Horror is represented as a surreptitious and furtive presence in many of Lucrecia Martel's films, though it is more assertively pronounced in Muta. We will first approach these more subtle influences in the filmmaker's feature- length films, especially highlighting the ‘monsterfied’ nature of some characters. After that we will analyse horror in the short film, considering the characters’ inhuman characteristics and their dialogue with other monsters in the cinematographic imagination. We will then note the cycles and suggestion of circular time in this film: it shows us insects, then women, then finishes with insects again. Finally, we will address the performance of the female body amid sign-objects, reflecting on how Martel seeks to subvert − or at least camouflage − some intentions of this advertising piece.

HORROR IN MARTEL'S WORK

Though none of this director's films can be fully included in the horror genre, influences and elements of horror loom over all of her works − and in a very particular way in Muta. Some of her films have titles that may be confused with films in the horror genre, like The Headless Woman and The Swamp, conjuring up legendary creatures or gloomy landscapes in the imagination. The choice of horror titles for films that are essentially dramas is meaningful in this nebulous approximation, in playing with appearances, in that which appears to be yet not always is.