Wholly ambivalent demon-girl: Horror, the uncanny and the representation of feminine adolescence in Lucrecia Martel's La niña santa

This article develops existing critical perspectives on Lucrecia Martel's La niña santa, in the light of recent theoretical debates on childhood and cinema. In particular, it focuses on the film's evocation of childhood experience, especially the portrayal and evocation of feminine adolescence, which can be understood within the framework of (feminist engagements with) the Freudian uncanny. This film can be seen as engaging in a dialogue with horror and its hegemonic uses of the child- or adolescent girl-figure, as well as refusing the allegorical uses of the child common to Latin American cultural production. The article redresses a critical ‘blind spot’ around queer understandings of the film which complement a focus on surface both evocative of childhood experience and negatory of futurity and representation.