It’s for all these reasons that La mujer sin cabeza is undoubtedly a “difficult” film to watch. As far as plot goes, there’s no real moment of climax or transformation, let alone resolution. For example, the audience’s identification with the protagonist is complicated by her bizarre and confusing behavior. Additionally, its slow pace and disorienting narrative disrupt the most typical modes of audience engagement with narrative films. Its refusal to divulge almost any background information about its characters or their relationships puts the viewer in a perpetual state of anxiety, as any sort of coherency or intelligibility to the events on screen is continuously delayed.
La mujer sin cabeza ( The Headless Woman) is a film likely to frustrate–infuriate, even–most audiences upon the first viewing.
