Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)

This is a title that dangles promise only to snatch it away at the last moment. I like that the director treats us the audience as Patrick treats his cult members, promise us something that is never really delivered on but is piggy backed by further promise until the actual realisation that we have been had comes too late.And that is it in my book, this film is a con in several ways:1. I can see why the critics loved this film because it is enough of a blank canvas for them to paint any picture they want on it, and boy did they go crazy with their crayolas. Yes Elizabeth Olson can be painted to appear disturbed, when actually all she does is nibble food swim have a few memories and kick her brother in law. There is no real substance to her character, so the disturbance we witness is that of a promising actor attempting to breathe life into an empty shell. 2. The good old "I did my research and found something intriguing and unique" flam. If Dunkin did so much research why then did he choose to dump us with a clichéd rehash of the family? This is another repuke of Charles Manson, and a dull and unconvincing one at that. There really was no substance, there was no creep factor, there was no psychological tension; but critics and movie land being what it is they do like their emperor's new clothes.3 The ending. I have just sat and read a psychologists review of the ending that was nearly as long as the film itself, and almost as irrelevant. The ending is not some great psychological mystery as to the state of Martha's mind, no, it is simply the inevitable consequence of a film without substance. There is nothing really happening in the rest of the movie so how can anything happen at the end?But that is where the real con and genius of Dunkin lies; because I like the majority stayed till the end thinking that something was going to be there. Well done sir, there are not many modern directors who could deceive their audience into sitting through almost 2 hours of nothing for the slightest chance of something at the end only to find, well, nothing.

'Martha Marcy May Marlene' is a powerful drama about a young woman who flees a cult-ish community under the domain of a charismatic, abusive alpha male. She takes refuse with her estranged sister: but the latter is wealthy, a control-freak, determined to make the world around her fit her perfect image, whereas her new house guest is paranoid, nervous, provocative and highly de-socialised. The strength of the film is that in many ways, the host is not a particularly likable person, but nonetheless, the film forces you to see her point of view: that her sister is not someone she can care for in the abstract, but neither bear to be around nor actually help. The movie is not wildly unorthodox but it quite skilfully implies the disquiet and distorted perspective of its primary protagonist without forsaking either subtlety or the capacity to induce sympathy, right up to the disturbingly ambiguous final scene.

Loved the movie, hated the ending. Martha Marcy May Marlene, even the title was enough to draw my interest. At first I thought - is this going to be about several women on the compound? But Director and writer Sean Durkin, has put a lot of thought into both the story and the direction of the film capturing the strangeness of a cult environment and the brainwashing that takes place while a person is subjected to the environment. Like the title, it's complicated the interwoven script moves through the movie as well as the cinematography and transitions it helps the audience understand Martha, played by Elizabeth Olsen. It's involved, I found myself really worried about Martha as a character, worried she would be abducted, possibly hurt her sister or hurt herself. This move does fall down flat on it's face at the conclusion however, not because it is indefinite but because after viewing all the violence and control exhibited by the leaders of the cult we are left with only one conclusion Patrick, the cult leader, will kill Martha. Why create an indefinite ending when the majority of the evidence suggests otherwise. Or as a director and writer,much more evidence would need to be offered that Martha is just paranoid. Loved the movie, hated the ending, great acting, writing, directing. Four out of five popcorn balls!

With "Martha Marcy May Marlene", there's a pervasive sense of foreboding right out of the gate. I really wanted to know what happened to Martha at that cult farm. But the bigger question that nagged throughout the movie (which is never really answered) is what drove her there in the first place? That's what was so frustrating because the movie offered very little in the way of answers. And the flip-flopping between past and present got old rather quickly. Alas, aside from Elizabeth Olsen's terrifically haunting performance, it's the frustration that sticks with me more than anything else. While this movie is great at setting the eerie vibe and leaving one completely unnerved, it's not one that I particularly want to revisit.5/10