Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011) R

Yes, this will in fact be my second consecutive Elizabeth Olsen (Silent House) film that I review. This film is one thousand times more terrifying than that supposed "horror" film ever could have been. People have been buzzing about Olsen's performance here since last spring, and I finally got a chance to see it for myself. It was absolutely worth the wait.

This is a haunting film that's certain to leave it's mark on most viewers. It's certainly open for interpretation and argument, which is almost always a good thing in this business. It's not often you get the privilege to view such a deep, well-acted and thought-provoking film from a freshman writer/director. Sean Durkin really out-did himself. And although the dialogue is at times average, he more than made up for it by getting wonderful performances from his actors and bringing the terrifying source material to life. This is definitely not a film for everyone. It contains graphic nudity, brief violence and may be a psychological nightmare for some.

Olsen, in her first feature film, gives the performance of her career that she will never be able to top. That doesn't mean I don't think she's a star in the making, because she certainly is. While Silent House was a bloodless, boring mess; she held her own and kept that film from being a straight-to-DVD catastrophe you would find in the $5.00 bin in your local, nasty Kmart.

Olsen plays Martha, who's presumably around 20 years of age. She had a troubled youth, and abandoned her family after turning 18. She completely vanished off the face of the earth at that time; no one has seen or heard from her since. The film opens in a secluded little farmhouse in upstate New York, where Martha helps out around the house.

I'm not going to sugarcoat things, Martha participates in a modern day cult. The cult is run by quiet-mannered, but seemingly likable, Patrick (John Hawkes). Hawkes (Winter's Bone, Identity) has evolved into one of the most reliable supporting actors over the past few years, and gives a harrowing performance here. Easily worthy of an Oscar nomination in my honest opinion. He's graceful, yet menacing in this hair-raising independent film.

The cult originally seems harmless enough, despite some glaring issues. Men are vastly superior to woman. Woman may not eat until the men are finished. The women only get the scraps. The women are also basically crammed into one bedroom where they sleep on the floorboards. However, the young ladies seem content with this and follow their leader without hesitation.

One morning, Martha packs her things and sneaks out of the house. She is spotted leaving and chased after. She manages to get away, and stops in the nearby town for lunch before catching the first bus out of this Godforsaken neck of the woods. However, her "boyfriend," Watts (Brady Corbet), finds her and threatens her. She must come back to their little family, or else. Corbet (Funny Games, Thirteen) is tremendously creepy, just as he was in Funny Games a few years back. He's a very talented young actor, with loads of potential.

Martha decides to call her sister, Lucy (Sarah Paulson), who she hasn't spoken to in two years. Martha is reluctant to tell Lucy where she is, but eventually gives in. Lucy picks her up and drives her roughly three hours from where the cult resides to her vacation home. Martha is extremely paranoid that the members of the cult will find, and easily dispose of her.

Martha meets Lucy's new husband, Ted (Hugh Dancy), for the first time. They don't exactly hit it off. Martha spends most of the day sleeping or staring off into space; there's obviously something wrong with her. Lucy is extremely worried about Martha, as she should be. As Martha adjusts to living again in the "real" world she frequently has flashbacks of her days in that daunting cult. At times she severely struggles with reality, which Lucy and Ted labor with. Martha can't seem to be able to differentiate between what's real and what's a memory from the past.

Slowly we piece together what exactly happened to Martha at that mysterious farmhouse. We eventually find out the initiation into the cult: getting drugged and raped by their trusted leader, Patrick. Martha wakes up as Patrick is finishing up and she wales in pain. She's obviously starting to wonder if she's made an extremely terrible decision in joining this strange group of individuals. Duh.

Her trusted best friend, Zoe (Louisa Krause), assures her that all the girls have had the privilege to be with Patrick sexually. Zoe believes Martha is lucky that it was her first time, and that she has now begun the cleansing process. Patrick doesn't like the name Martha, so he names her Marcy May. Patrick tells her that she is his favorite of all the girls. That she's different. That she's a teacher and a leader. Marcy May buys in almost immediately.

Back to reality; Martha struggles to fit in with Lucy and Ted as she goes skinny-dipping, urinates herself, screams at guests for no apparent reason and sits in while Ted and Lucy have sex. Ted has had enough of her insane antics and wants her institutionalized, but Lucy wants to be patient. The three of them struggle to coexist over the ensuing weeks.

It isn't long before we (the audience) get a first hand look at just what exactly this cult will do to survive, and so does Martha. She witnesses unspeakable horrors, as do we, and she eventually plots her escape. What we do know is that she does ultimately escape, but at what cost? And to what lengths will Patrick go to the retrieve a knowledgeable and detrimental Marcy May.

Martha's psychosis begins to get the better of her. She believes anyone and everyone is a possible threat, Ted included. Has Patrick actually sent his henchmen to recover her, or is she imagining it? It's possibly a brilliant ambiguous ending, that much is for certain. I found it fitting, myself. The entire film is open for interpretation, which I often find rewarding. This is a brutal, shocking and dark tale on the human condition. Struggled youth often times turn to alternate sources of acceptance, desire, faith and understanding. I find this type of film more terrifying than any Texas Chainsaw, Nightmare on Elm Street or Friday the 13th. This type of stuff is still happening to this day, right under our noises. And the repercussions are detrimental to human psyche.

I highly recommend this film to those who have read this review and believe they can stomach the material. It's certainly not a thrill-ride or entertaining in the very least. But it's an unforgettable, heartbreaking, agonizing drama that will stay with you for days. Now available on DVD.
A