Martha Marcy May Marlene

Martha Marcy May Marlene
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Sean Durkin
Produced by	Antonio Campos Patrick S. Cunningham Josh Mond
Written by	Sean Durkin
Starring	Elizabeth Olsen John Hawkes Sarah Paulson Hugh Dancy
Music by	Daniel Bensi Saunder Jurriaans
Cinematography	Jody Lee Lipes
Edited by	Zachary Stuart-Pontier
Production company	This Is That
Distributed by	Fox Searchlight Pictures
Release dates	January 21, 2011 (2011-01-21) (Sundance) October 21, 2011 (2011-10-21) (United States: limited)
Running time	102 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1 million[2]
Box office	$5.4 million[3]

Martha Marcy May Marlene is a 2011 American thriller drama film written and directed by Sean Durkin, and starring Elizabeth Olsen, John Hawkes, Sarah Paulson, and Hugh Dancy. The plot focuses on a young woman suffering from delusions and paranoia after returning to her family from an abusive cult in the Catskill Mountains. The film contains several references to the music of Jackson C. Frank.

Plot

Early one morning, Martha flees from an abusive cult in the Catskill Mountains led by an enigmatic leader, Patrick. She phones her sister Lucy, eventually asking for her help. Lucy picks up Martha at a nearby bus station and takes her to a lake house in Connecticut which Lucy shares with her husband, Ted. Martha tells Lucy only that she had been living with her boyfriend in the Catskills, leaving out all mention of the cult. During the following days, Martha continues to exhibit unusual behavior, with little regard for the commonly accepted societal boundaries of American culture.

In a flashback, Martha is seen meeting Patrick for the first time. He declares that she "looks like a Marcy May." It is explained to Martha that the group is working toward being self-sufficient on their farm. Later, Martha awakens in the middle of being raped by Patrick, and afterward another woman assures her that she was "lucky" to have Patrick as her first sex partner. Later, he sings Jackson C. Frank's song "Marcy's Song" in front of the group, and now addresses Martha as Marcy May. The cult members are shown swimming naked together at a waterfall.

At the lake house, Martha walks into Lucy and Ted's room while they are having sex and gets into bed with them. A horrified Lucy explains that this is not "normal" behavior, and Ted is furious about the incident. Martha continues to struggle with the return to her old life.

In another flashback to her time on the farm, Martha introduces a new girl, Sarah, to life on the farm. She explains that they all help out with Katie and Patrick's baby. When Sarah comments that all the infants in the community are boys, Martha ominously replies that "he only has boys". Martha later prepares Sarah for her "special night" with Patrick, presumably the same ritual of rape that Martha experienced. The preparation includes drinking a drugged drink, although Martha is tricked into drinking the drugged drink and is then raped again by Patrick.

During another flashback while teaching Martha to shoot, Patrick asks her to kill a sick cat to prove that she is "a teacher and a leader," but she refuses. He then asks her to shoot another cult member; she refuses to do this as well. One night, Martha, Watts, and Zoe break into a house and steal valuables. In another scene, Martha and several cult members have sex in one room while Patrick watches from a stairway as he disapproves of Martha having sex with others, and then has sex with Martha, much to her disapproval.

In the present, Martha becomes increasingly paranoid that the cult is watching her. Lucy continues to struggle to understand what has happened to Martha. Ted suggests they seek help for Martha, telling Lucy that she needs to be moved to a mental health facility.

In a flashback, Martha, Watts, and Zoe break into another house but are found by the owner. They start to leave, but Patrick appears and confronts the owner, questioning whether he will call the police. The man orders the group out and promises not to call the police, but the elder female member of the group, Katie, stabs him in the back. They quickly leave, with Martha clearly in shock. Martha is later shown answering the phone, using the name "Marlene Lewis" — a name that all the women use on the phone to conceal their identities. Martha struggles in the aftermath of the attack, and Patrick tries to convince her that death is actually a good thing.

After a nightmare at the lake house, Martha attacks Ted in her confusion. This leads Lucy to confront Martha, making it clear she must leave and informing her that they will pay for her treatment. When Lucy brings up that she and Ted are trying to start a family, Martha coldly states that Lucy will be a "terrible mother."

The next morning, Martha goes swimming in the lake and sees a man watching her from the opposite shore. Ted and Lucy then drive Martha to her treatment facility when the same man from the lake runs in front of Ted's car. He gets into a car parked on the side of the road and appears to follow them. Martha nervously looks back as they drive on, but doesn't say anything.

Cast

• Elizabeth Olsen as Martha/Marcy May/"Marlene Lewis"
• John Hawkes as Patrick
• Sarah Paulson as Lucy
• Hugh Dancy as Ted
• Brady Corbet as Watts
• Christopher Abbott as Max
• Michael Chmiel as Scruffy man
• Maria Dizzia as Katie
• Julia Garner as Sarah
• Louisa Krause as Zoe

Production

Sean Durkin started writing script of Martha Marcy May Marlene in 2007.^[4] When researching his script, Durkin read about what he calls ‘the big ones’: Jonestown, the Mansons, the Moonies and a bit of David Koresh. But he realised he wanted to make something more experiential than political. Hence he intentionally downplayed the ideology and goals of the cult (led by John Hawkes).^[5]

While researching, Durkin became fascinated by how someone gets into the farm or commune or group, and made a short film of the name Mary Last Seen about it starring Brady Corbet, who plays cult recruiter Watts in both the short and feature films. Mary Last Seen won the award for best short film at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival Directors' Fortnight. While Mary Last Seen was about how someone gets into the cult, Martha Marcy May Marlene was about what happens to someone when they get out of it. Durkin made the short to show the world Martha was in, and also with the intent to send it out with the script for Martha Marcy May Marlene to potential investors.^[6] The short film Mary Last Seen was selected for the Sundance Film Festival, and Durkin was given a distribution deal with Fox Searchlight.^[7]

Durkin and DP Jody Lee Lipes were inspired by the films Rosemary's Baby, 3 Women, Klute, Interiors, and Margot at the Wedding. The look of the film was inspired by Margot at the Wedding.^[8]

Release

Martha Marcy May Marlene premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival in January,^[9] with Durkin winning the festival's U.S. Directing Award for Best Drama.^[10] It also screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival^[11][12] and screened at the 36th Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2011.^[13] The film received a limited release in the United States on October 21, 2011.

In its opening weekend in limited release, Martha Marcy May Marlene grossed $137,651 in the United States.^[14]

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released Martha Marcy May Marlene on DVD and Blu-ray on February 21, 2012.^[15]

Reception

The film received highly positive reviews, while Olsen's performance as the traumatized Martha met with critical acclaim; the film holds a 90% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the consensus capsule stating, "Led by a mesmerizing debut performance from Elizabeth Olsen, Martha Marcy May Marlene is a distinctive, haunting psychological drama."^[16] On Metacritic the film has a 76 out of 100 "Metascore".^[17] Christy Lemire of the Associated Press named Martha Marcy May Marlene the best film of 2011.^[18] Roger Ebert gave the film three-and-a-half out of four stars, describing Olsen as "a genuine discovery ... She has a wide range of emotions to deal with here, and in her first major role, she seems instinctively to know how to do that." Ebert's only major complaint was that the movie's chronological shifts were "a shade too clever. In a serious film, there is no payoff for trickery."^[19]

Accolades

References

• Vizcarrondo, Sara Maria, "Martha Marcy May Marlene", Box Office Magazine, September 12, 2011
• Zakarin, Jordan, "'Martha Marcy May Marlene' Director, Producers Talk Cults, Time Shifts & Elizabeth Olsen", The Huffington Post, September 12, 2011

External links

• Official website
• Martha Marcy May Marlene at the Internet Movie Database
• Martha Marcy May Marlene at Box Office Mojo
• Martha Marcy May Marlene at Rotten Tomatoes
• Martha Marcy May Marlene at Metacritic