Martha Marcy May Marlene

If you’re a fan of Michael Bay (hey, there have to be some out there) it’s fair to say that Sean Durkin’s oddly titled Martha Marcy May Marlene won’t be the film for you. It has a tiny budget, it’s slow, there’s very little dialogue, but crucially, it does have a storyline that makes you care about the main characters. That’s not to say this film doesn’t have its faults though. This is Durkin’s feature length debut as a director and he doubles up with the screenplay as well. The story concerns Martha (Elizabeth Olsen), a young woman who is taken in by her sister Lucy (Sarah Paulson) after being missing for a few years. Unbeknown to Lucy, during that time Martha has been living in a cult in the Catskill Mountains. As Martha tries to re-connect with modern living she is still confused and paranoid about the time she has spent in the commune. This film also uses the MO of cutting between past and present (are there any films that aren’t using this at the moment?) as we watch Lucy’s attempts to help Martha interjected with scenes of Martha’s time on the commune. Though billed as a psychological thriller, this is more of a character study of a brainwashed young woman and her confused attempts to return to a “normal” way of living. Olsen is good in the lead role, but its Durkin’s script that holds all the interesting talking points particularly in his question of just what is a “normal” life. A great scene has an increasingly exasperated Hugh Dancy (as Lucy’s husband) getting flummoxed in his attempts to justify why a person needs a job and money. What isn’t normal though is the way of life in the cult, headed by the charismatic (though chillingly scary) Patrick (John Hawkes). Scenes of blissful guitar playing and vegetable growing look great on the surface, but underneath it’s a very grubby arena indeed including daily rape (shown in unpleasant detail at one point) and even murder (another quite shocking scene). Hawkes is terrifying as Patrick and follows on from his equally sharp turn in Winter’s Bone. So you can see why Martha did a runner, but has she escaped him for good, both in her head and as a physical presence? It’s left open, especially with a highly ambiguous ending. So, it’s one to make you think, but even at such a short running time it feels deathly slow up on the big screen and you’ll get more and more infuriated as the film goes on that Lucy never actually fully confronts Martha as to where she’s exactly been. Overall, not a bad little drama, but a bit more exposition would have made it a lot better.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict
Too slow to get going and when it does it ends somewhat abruptly. Still, some good ideas here and some decent performances. Rating: 6/10.