By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Sean Durkin
Starring: Brady Corbet | Elizabeth Olsen | Hugh Dancy | John Hawkes | Sarah Paulson
Country: united_states
Year: 2011
Running time: 120
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1441326/
Michael says: “To kick off this season’s CineCache co-presentation with the Brattle Theatre, we got a sneak preview of the Sundance hit, MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE. This is one impressive debut film… heck, it’s a pretty impressive film all around. Concerning a young woman struggling with the aftermath of her time at a cult, MARTHA explores the perceptions of a damaged psyche and the ways our everyday life could be viewed as not all that dissimilar to your average cult. The film follows two parallel tracks, Martha’s life as Marcy May living with a cult, and the return to her life as Martha, freshly escaped from said cult and living with her sister Lucy and Lucy’s new husband, Tim. Lucy and Tim are living the upper middle-class lifestyle in Manhattan, but vacationing in a gorgeous lakehouse in Connecticut. The tranquil scenes echo Marcy May’s rural life with the cult in the Catskills. Lucy is a fascinating character, struggling to understand what has happened to her sister, who has reappeared after a two-year disappearance, clearly troubled, but unwilling to talk about what happened to her. Even when Martha’s behavior becomes disturbing, Lucy’s main concern is her sister’s well-being. Part of that might be driven by guilt, as older-sister Lucy might have done a better job looking after Martha when their mother passed away years earlier. Tim however, lacks the patience of Lucy, and things between him and Martha quickly become tense.
“Martha is a fascinating character, and many kudos must be showered upon newcomer Elizabeth Olsen. The younger sibling of the more famous Olsen twins, Elizabeth is a marvel portraying a complex, damaged young woman, with a tendency toward turning inward and conveying her multi-leveled emotions by facial expression and body language alone. It’s wonderful to see how Martha’s behavior at her sisters echoes Marcy May’s behavior with her cult family, yet is overshadowed by the mental an emotional abuse she suffered during that time. Like Jennifer Lawrence in 2010’s WINTER’S BONE, look for Olsen to be this year’s breakout performance. Kudos to Sarah Paulson who plays Lucy, and John Hawkes (another WINTER’S BONE connection) who plays Patrick, the cult’s quietly simmering leader.
“First-time feature writer/director Sean Durkin does a marvelous job with a tense, engaging, slightly-creepy screenplay. His beautiful shifting between the different time periods is smoothly and naturally done. Martha’s growing paranoia is handled with a slow burn tension that is hardly noticeable at first. Durkin could be looking at the start of a strong and notable career. 4 cats”
Jason says: “There’s maybe a little license taken with the shifting timelines of MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE, in that it’s a little convenient that the title character’s relevant flashbacks and reactions are triggered in just such a ways as to make both stories fairly linear. But if that’s the extent of issues one has with a movie that is excellent in just about every other area, then the filmmakers have done very well indeed; it’s no exaggeration to say that Sean Durkin and company have made a gem.
“Even though we’re only given a brief, but telling, look at the farm in upstate New York where Martha (Elizabeth Olsen) has been living for the past two years at the beginning, she seems to walk away unusually easily, with the housemate sent to town after her not doing much at all to bring her back to Patrick (John Hawkes), the leader of this group. Instead, she’s picked up by sister Lucy (Sarah Paulson), who brings Martha to the lake house that she and her husband Ted (Hugh Dancy) have rented for the summer. Right away, it’s an uncomfortable fit, with Martha unwilling to talk while Lucy and Ted are slow to realize that her erratic behavior signifies that the bad breakup story she’s given them is at the very least incomplete.
“The supporting cast in this movie is kind of interesting, in how they tend to invert expectations somewhat. John Hawkes, for instance, never really goes big when one might expect the charismatic cult leader to do so; when he starts lecturing, he seems weak; he’s at his most powerful when he’s casual (his biggest alpha-male display comes playing guitar). On the other side of the movie, Hugh Dancy makes common sense and compassion seem sort of heartless, while Sarah Paulson does a very nice job of playing Lucy’s guilt and shallowness side by side.
“Of course, they’re all secondary to Elizabeth Olsen; she may not be in every scene of the movie, but her Martha is certainly at least hovering right outside the ones missing her (to the point where they’re often filmed thr ugh doorways). There’s a look on her face in the early scenes on the farm that maybe suggests that she knows that she’s being fed a line but thinks she can just get she wants out of her time there, and Olsen plays that pride as Martha’s tragic flaw throughout the film; it’s always there, whether helpful or not, even if it’s often hidden behind shell-shocked damage. It’s a remarkably compelling performance, able to hold the audience’s rapt attention throughout the entire movie.
“As much as Olsen’s performance will be the thing that leaps out at most viewers – as it should be – writer/director Sean Durkin does a few things with the rest of the story that are well worth note. Patrick’s cult, for instance, is almost entirely a cult of personality: Although he exercises control in many of the same ways religious cults do (for instance, calling Martha ‘Marcy May’ helps to isolate her from her old life), God is never mentioned. Combined with the back-and-forth movement in time and sustained focus on Martha’s point of view, even audience members knowing what they were getting into may find themselves maneuvered into treating the group more as a hippie commune than a cult early on, especially when watching Martha’s somewhat confused reintroduction to the more ostentatious, consumerist lifestyle Lucy and Ted lead.
“It’s a clever bit of manipulation that sometimes seems to be close to cheating, as Martha’s emotional state in the present sometimes seems to be catching up to the story of her being integrated into Patrick’s group. I suspect that a second viewing will reveal more bits that foreshadow events not seen until later (like the early moment when Martha asks Lucy how far they are from where Lucy found her); even without that, one must admire the smooth way in which Durkin and company move between threads. They not only don’t use a lot of obvious signifiers to distinguish ‘now’ from ‘then,’ but they also manage to make very close ties between scenes (e.g., getting ready to swim now, actually jumping into the water in flashback) without it seeming trite; it not only makes the film a smooth watch, but reinforces the idea that Martha is having trouble separating the past and present without making a big deal out of it.
“I also love the last shot of the movie, which takes what seems for a second like a suspense beat and instead uses it to really get the audience into where Martha’s head is at that moment, then cutting off right where a more typical recovery drama would begin. It keeps the focus exactly where it belongs, and that singular focus on the title character makes the film unique. 5 cats
“Seen 26 September 2011 in the Brattle Theatre (CineCaché)”
Bruce says: “First time director Sean Durkin (he had directed two short films prior to this effort) displays incipient talent in bringing his own screenplay to life. Assisted by a group of gifted actors and a good location scout, he tells the story of a young girl who escapes life in a cult that is similar to the Manson family. In fact it is hard to avoid comparison to LESLIE, THY NAME IS EVIL (aka MANSON, THY NAME IS EVIL) a 2009 Canadian film about the Manson trial.
“The viewer is never let in on many of the details of Martha’s life other than she is a lonely girl whose parents died way before their time. Martha also suffers from low self-esteem and a nagging ennui which leaves her helpless to be proactive or defend herself. MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE toggles back and forth between her cult life and her life of refuge once she escapes.
“The leader of the cult, Manson-like Patrick (John Hawkes), beds each new girl as an initiation rite. He knows how to create emotional bonds by telling girls like Martha they are natural teachers and leaders. However, the banal dialogue of the cult life dilutes the story – tidbits such as ‘only through death is there true love.’ By comparison, the depiction of the cult culture in LESLIE, THY NAME IS EVIL is more detailed and consequently more convincing.
“Once Martha escapes she calls her sister Lucy (Sarah Paulson) with whom she has had no contact for at least two years. ‘Tell me where you are and I will come and get you,’ Lucy says. Lucy drives three hours to pick her up. The balance of the film illustrates the damage sustained by cult brainwashing. Lucy is patient with Martha but becomes exasperated when Martha does not respond to her questions. ‘Just because we are sisters doesn’t mean you can talk about anything that comes into you head,’ Martha tells her. Lucy’s husband Ted (Hugh Dancy) loses patience more readily observing that Martha’s ‘behavior is fucking insane,’ that said after Martha climbs into Lucy and Ted’s bed while they are having sex.
“Martha has a warm smile but she doesn’t know why she is smiling. She thinks it is good when one cannot remember things; she calls it ‘cleansing.’ Much has been said about the breakthrough performance of Elizabeth Olsen. Playing shut down well is not indicative of overall talent; in my opinion the jury’s still out. Seeing MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE I had the same detached feeling that I had with WINTER’S BONE. In the end I did not have many deep feelings about many of the characters no matter how well the actors played their roles. 3.5 cats”
Diane says: “Ooh, I liked it! Terrific atmosphere. Noms for lead Olsen and screenplay, at least. 4 cats”
Thom says: “This film I really was looking forward to since last September when I got shut out of a ticket for this at TIFF 2011. Well, hmm, I was ‘into’ the film all during its running time but after much thought I ended up feeling that it was a valiant effort that failed. Martha (Olson who reminded me of Amber Benson of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame) who had slipped out of society by joining an onerous cult where she was called Marcy May, has escaped the cult and has returned to her sister and brother-in-law. Despite all their kind attentions they have no clue why she continues to rebel against all aspects of polite society. She’s not only rude but downright creepy. Does she want to return to the cult? She places a telephone call to them but I was never clear whether they were seeking her out to bring her back. In fact, the whole film is decidedly too murky and in going back and forth between Martha’s newest life and her life during her two years in the cult the clearest approach was missed. Individual scenes were very good and the director worked well with his actors. It was never clear why she joined the cult or why once she’d left she refused to talk about where she had been. John Hawkes, usually excellent, has the impossible role of Patrick, the enigmatic cult leader. If Tilda Swinton, perhaps the planet’s best actor was unable to convince me playing Sal, the cult leader in THE BEACH (2000), that she was able to command such a group, Hawkes certainly fared no better. But I admit this only proves that my own psyche is probably too wrapped up in myself. The ending of this film was woefully weak, bring resolution to nothing that came before. 3.5 cats”