Cults. There’s
something inherently interesting and scary about them. You usually have a narcissist who is obsessed with power or
control and wants followers, and manages to sucker (or force) those who are damaged or easily led into joining. Whether the ideology
of the cult ends up being purely for polygamist reasons, a result of religious
fervour, or to satisfy some sort of anarcho-destructive / self sacrifice
craziness; they always appear to be outposts of the slightly insane.
Which leads us into Martha Marcy May Marlene, the highly
acclaimed debut feature from writer / director Sean Durkin, about a girl
who decides to flee from the cult she joined a couple of
years prior. The film starts with the girl, Martha (Elizabeth
Olsen), contacting her estranged sister Lucy (Sarah Paulson), who is quick to come to her aid and take her to the lakeside holiday home that she and her husband Ted (Hugh
Dancy) are staying in. The story follows
Martha as she recuperates and slowly re-adapts to the ‘real world’, whilst in flashback we see
an abridged account of her life in the cult. She is named Marcy
May by Patrick (John
Hawkes), the cult leader if you will, with what appears to be his sons and a number of young
women making up the other members. They are based in a farmhouse somewhere vaguely rural with a goal seemingly towards self-sufficiency, but they hold a dated view towards women (the men eat first for
example) and everybody shares everything and everyone.
This is a film that shows the damaging effects experienced by someone suckered into such a situation. Martha, whilst staying with her sister, is constantly on edge. So many little things happen in the every day life here that are little
reminders of what she escaped – she seems to be constantly haunted yet at the
same time is struggling to pull away from the past, especially as issues with
her sister slowly begin to flare up. Which family does she really feel part of? And the word ‘family’ is the big con that’s used to willingly reel
girls into this life. Yes an essence of
the familial may exist, but surely the subjugation and controlling sexual atmosphere they
put up with is not worth this? Hawkes is very convincing as Patrick – he has a certain relaxed smoothness on the exterior,
but underneath he exudes something more predatory and controlling that instantly makes you wary.
But this is where one of the key problems with Martha Marcy May Marlene lies, which unfortunately restrains it. There is no attempt to explain or rationalise why the girls so willingly choose
to join this ‘family’. Yes it may be painted as rosy from the outside, but the girls who have already joined seem content with what they have and readily lead new girls into this life. Marcy May is complicit in this too. The psychology behind this is fascinating but it remains unexplored,
with the filmmakers only giving the merest hint as to why Martha decided to join, which
isn’t enough. Tackling the after effects rather than the cause seems the easier and less interesting route to take. The other key failing comes from the implied
threat of Martha being tracked down by Patrick after she has fled. You
can imagine this would lead to a life spent constantly looking over her shoulder, worried. We are given an additional reason for Martha to be fearful, but the film
manages to fall flat in this area by offering the audience very little tension. It all feels a bit too loose and casual.
A lot of praise has been lavished on Olsen for her performance as Martha /
Marcy May / Marlene (the latter name is explained in the film) and she does do a great
job. She convincingly portrays a girl
slowly being driven crazy by her past, which is effectively
filled with a mixture of trepidation, fear and at times a wide eyed willingness and wonder. She balances this well. Sometimes she is dripping with a
palpable sexuality and other times you just went to tell her it's all her own doing and to get a grip. It’s a nuanced
performance. The acting is
better than the direction it has to be said, which suffers from being overly
languid, suffocating any real threat from the story. The ending is also mightily unsatisfying. It’s one thing to aim for ambiguity but it’s
another thing to just seemingly end the film without
Yes that was intentional; it may seem like lazy writing but that's exactly what the ending felt like.
I thought Martha Marcy May Marlene was an interesting film
with two great performances, but ultimately I left feeling underwhelmed. It took a few days to gather my thoughts, primarily
because I really wanted to like it but I was struggling to see how it actually
delivered. The problem was it didn’t totally deliver and
there are other directions I think it should’ve explored. It’s a good film but I honestly don’t think
it lives up to some of the rave reviews it’s been receiving.
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