Friday Review-Martha Marcy May Marlene

Martha Marcy May Marlene is an indie film with leanings towards melodrama and B-movie horror; nonetheless, it’s a disturbing study of a mind destroyed by an abusive cult. Elizabeth Olsen gives a wide eyed performance as Martha, a cult member who flees and is taken in by her sister, Lucy (Sarah Paulson) and her husband, Ted (Hugh Dancy). Lucy doesn’t know where her younger sister has been and Martha doesn’t tell her. Instead her whereabouts are revealed through flashbacks that depict her time in a deeply misogynistic cult that glorified rape and group sex, and as all cults, was led by a charismatic, if not evil leader . As her actions become increasingly weird, Ted and Lucy’s frustration with Martha is palpable and it’s not hard to identify with their frustration, even anger. Still the innocence and naiveté with which Olsen portrays Martha make her actions seem, if not understandable at least understandable given the hardships which we know Martha has suffered.  Like a good melodrama the setting is Ted and Lucy’s lakeside cabin, it’s secluded and other characters rarely make an appearance and when they do the results are never good. As the film goes on we sense a violent ending is coming, and we become more convinced the more we learn about the cult and it’s troubling, although well played, leader Patrick (John Hawkes). Indeed violence escalates both in Martha’s past and perhaps in her present too as she becomes increasingly concerned that the cult is coming after her. Are they? We don’t know, which makes the final scene of the film all the more troubling and inconclusive. We never find out if the cult reclaims Martha but is this a credit or discredit to the film? On one hand, as the title suggests, this is a film about a fragmented personality, and as such is successful, however, I would argue that whether the cult is coming after Martha, and whether she is killed or forced to rejoin the cult is important and valuable information for the film and for the viewer’s interpretation of the film . Furthermore, Martha Marcy May, Marlene is arguably not a statement film. That is, it doesn’t say much about the kind of people drawn to the cult nor what the social implications of this are.  Nonetheless, it is a thought provoking and troubling film, one filled with great performances and certainly worth a watch.

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