Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)

• Year: 2011
• Released: 21 Dec 2011
• Country: United States
• Adwords: 22 wins & 74 nominations
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1441326/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/Martha_Marcy_May_Marlene
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/martha-marcy-may-marlene
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: R
• Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
• Runtime: 102 min
• Writer: Sean Durkin
• Director: Sean Durkin
• Cast: Elizabeth Olsen, Sarah Paulson, John Hawkes
• Keywords: sibling relationship, cult, paranoia, home invasion, memory,

	6.8/10
	75/100
	90% – Critics
	71% – Audience

Martha Marcy May Marlene Storyline

After not hearing from her in two years, Lucy receives a telephone call from her only sibling, younger Martha, who eventually accepts Lucy’s offer to come pick her up. Martha, who only mentions that she was living with a boyfriend in upstate New York, ends up staying with Lucy and her new husband, Ted, an architect, in their rented Connecticut lake-front recreational home. During her stay with them, Martha seems unfocused about what she will do with her life. She also displays inappropriate behavior, not matching anything resembling western convention. Lucy doesn’t press Martha on the root cause of the behavior because of their family history, and Lucy’s resulting want to provide unconditional support and love to her only family. Ted tolerates the behavior if only to keep Lucy happy. What Martha has not told them is that those two years she was renamed Marcy May and were spent with a cult, her behavior being what she was indoctrinated into as being what was done with that group. Situations with Lucy and Ted trigger those memories for Martha and resulting behavior. Even in her brainwashed state, Martha became to realize that certain actions by the cult were not what she knew to be right, and was able to escape from them. But as her time with Lucy and Ted progresses, Martha begins to lose track of what memories are real and what are phantom, which is exacerbated by her belief that the cult is after her. In her paranoid state, Martha becomes a risk not only to Lucy and Ted but to herself.

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Martha Marcy May Marlene Movie Reviews

good surprising performance

Martha (Elizabeth Olsen) escapes from an abusive male-dominated communal cult where she lived as Marcy May. Her sister Lucy (Sarah Paulson) eagerly takes her in. Lucy is married to Ted (Hugh Dancy). She has difficulties reintegrating into the world despite her sister’s efforts. The movie flashes back occasionally to her time with the charismatic leader Patrick (John Hawkes).

It was my first time seeing Elizabeth Olsen act and it was quite a good surprise. Other than being the younger sister to the twins, I wasn’t really expecting to see this mature performance. The story has very disturbing sections with her in the cult. It’s uncomfortable which a good indie sometimes becomes. It does need to be more consistent with its intensity. It’s a bit too slow in a few places.

Mind set

What are cults? How do they work? As intriguing as that is to know, I don’t think you’ll come out of this knowing more on that. What this does though is getting into the head of our main actress and gives us a look on how a cult messes up a person and what that outfall can look and feel like.

And what better time to watch this, than after having finished Wandavision!? Exactly, none better than this. Did not know this was made 10 years ago. Never came around watching it and I am surprised by this as much as anyone. Apart from Olsen we also have Sarah Paulsen to name the other very famous female main character. The relationship those two have in stark contrast with what Olsen character had to go through … flashbacks combined with what happens now … confusing not just to Olsen, but also to everyone else aka the viewers.

This can be a straining viewing and it might not even come to a satisfying conclusion for many … but it is very well made. Drama that has its own slow pace, but might touch you with its mystery and how it deals with pain and experience …

Begging For A Sequel

A suggestion to the first time Director. Do a sequel. MMMM 2. This is probably a blasphemous recommendation to aspiring Auteurs but this Movie is nothing if not a teasing build-up that, if it is to be taken seriously, demands a fleshing out and is good enough to warrant an embellishment.

If not, it is an unacceptable, unexplained, ambiguous piece. The Film is without doubt an intriguing premise with a sympathetic lead Character, a disturbing Cult, and so many unanswered curiosities that it is rendered an open ended, thinly written, excuse for a Psychological Thriller. It is more like a first draft, or dare one say, a Pilot for a TV Series.

It is a fleshy flash of an idea that is competently acted and delivered in a tense and terrifying style. But it is also highly disappointing and seems like a hurried Art-House production that is made to get it over with rather than confidently and completely concluding with a sense of prideful rendering.

Stop cringing and go for it. You made your Independent mark at Sundance. Your credentials are intact, so forget the “selling out” and gasps from your peers. You owe it to the best of this debut Feature. So Mr. Director, are you really going to leave this hanging as is. If so, that would be a shame and make this one served half-baked and not easily digested.