Sundance review: 'The Virgin of the Quarry Lake' follows a teen girl's jealous obsession in a moody Argentine drama.

Young love takes some dark turns — some of them more predictable than others — in director Laura Casabé’s drama “The Virgin of the Quarry Lake.”

In a Buenos Aires suburb in 2001, Natalia (Dolores Oiverio) is looking forward to her last summer before college — and of hanging out with her friends, and with the boy she’s been crushing on, Diego (Agustín Sosa). That hope gets derailed with the arrival of Silvia (Fernanda Echevarria), a college-aged woman Diego met in a chat room. 

Silvia is sophisticated, talking about her recent stay in London, or her cousin in Mexico, or knowing the bass player for the band Natalia and Diego like. She gets them into a hip nightclub, and tells them about this cool place to go swimming — a pristine lake formed by an abandoned quarry a few miles away. It becomes their summer hangout spot, as Natalia watches with envy as Diego seems to be getting closer to Silvia.

Casabé and screenwriter Benjamin Naishtat, adapting a short story by Argentine author Mariana Enriquez, capture the pangs of young love, as Natalia wrestles with whether to show her feelings for Diego. She also has to contend with her grandmother (Luisa Merelas), who dabbles in magic and may have passed the talent to her granddaughter.

Some of the territory covered here is familiar stuff in teen romance stories. What’s unique, and most interesting, about “The Virgin of the Quarry Lake,” is the specificity Casabé brings to Natalia’s jealousy — and Oliverio’s breakout performance.

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‘The Virgin of the Quarry Lake’

★★★

Screening in the World Cinema Dramatic competition of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Screens again: Tuesday, January 28, 3:15 p.m., Broadway 6, Salt Lake City; Wednesday, January 29, 2:30 p.m., Redstone 4, Park City; Friday, January 31, 5:20 p.m., Redstone 3, Park City; Saturday, February 1, 6:45 p.m., Holiday 2, Park City.  Online screenings Thursday, January 30, 8 a.m. to Sunday, February 2, 11:55 p.m. (All times Mountain time zone.) Not rated, but probably R for strong sexuality, language and some bloodshed. Running time: 96 minutes; in Spanish, with subtitles.