Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011) (a review) ** RECOMMEND ***

Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011) (A review)

The directorial debut by Sean Durkin that stars Elizabeth Olsen (younger sister of the Oslen twins).

The story: a girl (Olsen) goes to live with her sister after escaping from an abusive cult. However, just because she is out of the cult doesn't mean she can put it behind her and as she struggles to return to "normal" life she becomes increasingly paranoid that the cult is coming back for her.

Was it good?

Yes. Very good. Almost excellent, but a few things hurt the final film and prevented it
from being an alsolutely A+++ film. First the good. The story is interesting from the start as it begins with the girl having escaped and calling her sister, who hasn't heard from her in two years. Things are immediately tense and awkward and we can see the girl having trouble in this new setting (her sister's boyfriend's home). As she struggles to adjust we begin to flashback to her experiences in the cult, from her first entering to the escalating abuse and violent behavoir.

Where the movie falters is both the beginning and the ending. We never see Martha's life before that made her join the cult and while much of it is implied by her time at her sister's house. While this is okay for most of the film, prevents the main character from having a strong arc and stops the second half of the film, as she struggles with her nightmares, to have quite the impact it should have. And the ending...well, it just didn't work for me. The problem is you spend all this time watching to see if she is going to escape from the psychological damage of the cult and it just doesn't give you that final answer. Now this isn't bad if you are doing a "Lady and the Tiger" story where there is a deeper question, but because there really isn't anything else here so the ending for me felt more like a cop out.

Still, overall a great film. If you are looking for a creepy psychological thriller that is more about character than cheap scares, this is a good one to check out.

*** RECOMMEND ***