Writer-director Lucía Puenzo won awards — including two prizes at Cannes — and critical acclaim all over the world for XXY (Frameline32), and now the Argentine filmmaker returns with a lesbian romance that’s also a Chabrolesque mystery thriller and a scathing examination of class differences in the South American nation.

Lala (Inés Efron, whose performance has inspired comparisons to the early film roles of both Sissy Spacek and Chloë Sevigny), the privileged daughter of a powerful judge, wants to run off with her Paraguayan lover La Guayi (Mariela Vitale), a maid who works for Lala’s family. As the two prepare for their imminent escape from Buenos Aires to Paraguay — to live in a dream house that Lala has already sketched out on paper — Lala’s cruel father is murdered, and circumstantial evidence appears that makes La Guayi look guilty.

With the help of the shady Pulido (Carlos Bardem), will Lala make the ultimate sacrifice for true love? And can the mythical, titular water-child protect these women in love?