“Lady Nazca”, the destiny of a mathematician passionate about the lines of the Peruvian desert

When she first discovered immense geometric figures on the ground of the Peruvian desert, Maria Reiche (1903-1998) did not yet know that they would become the passion of her life.

Freely inspired by the youth of this German mathematician, Lady Nazca tells how, by chance meeting an archaeologist (Guillaume Gallienne), she embarked on the titanic task of studying and protecting these geoglyphs (from the Greek gêthe earth, and gluphéthe drawing).

The director, Damien Dorsaz, chose to tell this human adventure in a refined setting, shooting most of the sequences in natural light in the desert, in the same place where Maria Reiche lived. After trading the comfort of the city of Lima (Peru) for the arid environment of the desert, the heroine decides to live as close as possible to families of Nazca culture, thus building bonds of trust with them.

By immersing herself in the study of these millennia-old remains, it is also her own interiority that the young woman discovers little by little. Courageous and independent, she managed, in the mid-1950s, to convince the Peruvian government to protect the geoglyphs threatened by an irrigation project and the installation of cotton fields.

Respect and tenacity

He is a very respected figure in Peru, says Yolanda Rigault, president of the Peruvian Cultural Center in Paris. A museum is dedicated to him and his work is taught to all Peruvian middle school students.”

If this feature film highlights Maria Reiche, it must nevertheless be emphasized that the young woman followed in the footsteps of two other researchers: the Peruvian Toribio Mejia Xesspe, first discoverer of the lines, and the American Paul Kosok.

She herself passed the baton to other renowned archaeologists, such as the Italian Giuseppe Orefici. “This man who also dedicated his life to Nazca culture and who valued the important site of Cahuachi, was my friend,” confides Yolanda Rigault. He often spoke to me about the tenacity that Maria Reiche demonstrated to ensure that the Nazca Lines were listed as a UNESCO heritage site in 1994.”

Four years later, the great lady died in Peru, her second homeland, at the age of 95. This fiction, in the form of an initiatory journey, pays him a vibrant tribute.