Movie Martha Marcy May Marlene (15)
Jenness Mitchell • Published 6 Feb 2012 08:00
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The 2011 Sundance Film Festival award-winning Martha Marcy May Marlene finally hits our screens. The psychological thriller tells the tale of a young woman who escapes from an abusive cult in the Catskill Mountains, but cannot adjust to normal life due to being plagued by paranoia and delusions.
The film opens with Martha (Elizabeth Olsen) waking early and running out on the 'family' she has been living with for the past two years. Watts (Brady Corbett), a member of the cult, tracks her down to a roadside diner but is unable to make her leave with him. Martha calls her sister Lucy (Sarah Paulson) to which her older sibling picks her up and drives her away from the unspoken danger to a lakeside holiday home. Over the next few days we are witness to flashbacks of Martha's time in the Catskills and how under the spell of enigmatic leader Patrick (John Hawkes) she lost sense of who she was until an act of violence snaps her out of her conformist state. Unfortunately Martha has difficulty settling back to normality in fear that the cult will eventually find her.
Martha Marcy May Marlene is a movie audiences are either going to love or hate because it's slow paced, most of the background stories are insinuated and the ending will leave you with unanswered questions. Personally, it is my new Winter's Bone and I am absolutely astounded it hasn't been nominated for any Academy Awards.
While you are never informed in to how Martha came to meet Zoe (Louisa Krause), the girl who introduces her to the cult, it is easy to see how she fell into their way of living. Most cults attract members via love and acceptance. Martha, now named Marcy May by Patrick, is manipulated by being reminded that people have abandoned her but that the cult just want to help let her guard down. If cults were abusive and violent from joining most would not stay long. In a telling scene Martha awakens to find Patrick raping her from behind. Once done, a female member reassures her that the act was 'truly good' and something they have all experienced. Later on it is Martha's turn to encourage new girl Sarah (Julie Garner) that it is somewhat special.
Some of the best scenes in the film revolve around Martha adapting to the inhibitions of the 'real world'. Lucy's reaction to her younger sister stripping off naked to swim in the lake and sitting on a kitchen counter with her feet up is comical - as is her declaration of Martha's clothes as 'disgusting'.
While you are only given glimpses into Martha's past, it is Lucy you come to care for as she has spent the last two years worried for Martha's safety and feels guilty for not taking better care of her. You can tell Lucy takes it badly when she finds out Martha has been living close by for over a year and hadn't bothered to call - although is unaware of the reason why. When Martha curls up on the side of Lucy and Ted's (Hugh Dancy) bed whilst they are having sex, Lucy instinctively becomes protective. She tries to prise what has happened to Martha, but is given no answer.
Martha's paranoia escalates to which it inevitably leads to a meltdown. Whether she is three hours or 3000 miles away from the Catskills, Martha will never be able to escape the cult's clutches.
In respect to the cast, Elizabeth Olsen has been robbed of an Oscar nomination. The Olsen Twins' little sister steals every scene as Martha with her subtleness - reminiscent of Jennifer Lawrence in Winter's Bone. The 22-year-old is definitely one to keep an eye on and is a solid addition to the young Hollywood set currently making waves on the cinematic screen (the likes of Jen Lawrence, Saoirse Ronan, Emma Stone, Carey Mulligan, Hailee Steinfeld and Chloe Moretz). As Patrick, John Hawkes (Deadwood, Winter's Bone) brings his best Charlie Manson to the fore. He's charismatic, attentive and talented. When he serenades Martha with a song it is easy to see how she becomes hypnotised - and when he loses his cool it is understandable as to why she becomes frightened. As Lucy, Broadway babe Sarah Paulson (The Glass Menagerie) is another whom I feel to have been deprived of an Academy Award nomination. The 36-year-old is a fantastic supporting actress and is one of the reasons Olsen was able to deliver such a knockout performance.
Martha Marcy May Marlene. Beautiful. Just beautiful.
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