I wanted to be clever and try to write this review with words all beginning with the letter M. I quickly rethought that as it would be so very, very annoying to both you and me. But not quite so annoying as I found the end of this movie. The end wouldn't have been quite so annoying except that the previous two movies I had seen in a theater (Drive and The Ides of March) had not been entirely satisfactory in their endings. Is this a trend? I'm not liking it. I tend to be a conventional person. I like Bach. I like old fashioned rock and roll. I like stories to have a beginning and an end. Is that too much to ask for? Oh, but I am giving you the impression the movie was not good. I shouldn't do that. There were many good points that made this movie worth seeing. It's just that the end didn't quite satisfy and was, well..... but let's leave this for the end.
Please: BE AWARE- SPOILER ALERT! This review discusses the movie at length. Including the end.
Martha Marcy May Marlene is the story of a young woman (Elizabeth Olsen, younger sister of the twins) who finds herself living on a farm somewhere in upstate New York (really, this covers basically all of New York State except New York City and immediate suburbs when you think about it) with quite a few young women, a few young men and an apparently charismatic older man named Patrick (I'm thinking Patriarch here) played here by John Hawkes. I am a big fan of John Hawkes. He played Teardrop in Winter's Bone, my favorite film of 2010. He was also in The Perfect Storm. I do like John Hawkes- a great actor to watch. He brings life and character to each role. I like Elizabeth Olsen as well. I enjoyed her performance, very "informed, nuanced and (I want to say gritty)" but that word doesn't really feel right here. I've just written a few cliches but what I really mean is that I loved her performance and she was a joy to watch. So natural and real. But I have wandered off a little, well maybe not since the actors are important but back to the story. Life on the farm is communal though hierarchal - Patrick at the top, then the men, then the women who serve the men. Martha, when she joins the community, is given a new name by Patrick- Marcy May. The name Marlene is the name given to any woman answering the telephone at the farm.
Sean Durkin wrote and directed this story. It is told in segments, present and past. Marcy May escapes from the commune and calls her sister Lucy (Sarah Paulson who was so delightful as Harriet Hayes on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip). It has been over two years since Lucy has heard from Martha and Lucy has married Ted (Hugh Dancy). Lucy and Martha mother's had passed away we learn. It seems Martha wanders off and is gone for two years before Lucy receives the phone call. In the interim, Lucy has, of necessity, "moved on" with her life. Martha only discloses that she spent these last two years with a boyfriend, not divulging that she has been living with a communal cult. The story moves between the present and the past. As Martha jumps into the water from the boat on the lake to swim, we see Marcy May in the water swimming in the secluded swimming hole with her communal cohorts. The film continues to move back and forth in this manner.
Martha's story begins to unfold in this present/past storytelling manner. Through this device, we begin to learn her journey and rigor/controlled circumstance of the life on the farm. Part of Patrick's control is the drugging then rape of the young women, performed as part of ritual. The day after Marcy May is "indoctrinated", Patrick shares a song he has written about her to the group. This flatters Marcy May and lulls her into acquiescence. Eventually, Marcy May assists in the "indoctrination" of another young woman that includes the administration of the drug and reassurance that this will be a wonderful night. In another scene, young men and women of the commune are having sex in the same room, while Patrick observes, though not in an orgiastic way.
Once Martha has escaped the commune and is living with Lucy and Ted, she criticizes them for their essentially capitalistic attitudes. Later, Martha walks into their bedroom and lays down in bed with them while they are having sex, though not as if joining them. This clearly upsets Lucy as well as Ted.
The film does a wonderful job telling the story and unfolding the pieces bit by bit. It keeps one's interest. As the story goes on, little by little, it gets a bit more disturbing as the members of the commune stray a little from the home front. We also watch Martha/Marcy May/Marlene try to cope or maybe we don't. Maybe she's in denial. We watch her story, we watch as Lucy and Ted become more baffled because Martha doesn't open up. The decision that Martha needs professional help is not an easy one. Does this lead to the end? What is the end? And then as the film ends, it all gets ambiguous. Did she see this or that? Who was that on the shore? Or is that just an hallucination? Who was in that car? Or is MMMM just plain crazy? This is my complaint...... it's like the end of Memento: who was calling on that damn phone?
I liked the movie. It was interesting, intriguing, the acting was good. The story was moving along with an interesting device to go back and forth. Then POW! It has to end. Why is it no one can write a satisfactory ending anymore?
Oh, my, my, my, my!
Please: BE AWARE- SPOILER ALERT! This review discusses the movie at length. Including the end.
Martha Marcy May Marlene is the story of a young woman (Elizabeth Olsen, younger sister of the twins) who finds herself living on a farm somewhere in upstate New York (really, this covers basically all of New York State except New York City and immediate suburbs when you think about it) with quite a few young women, a few young men and an apparently charismatic older man named Patrick (I'm thinking Patriarch here) played here by John Hawkes. I am a big fan of John Hawkes. He played Teardrop in Winter's Bone, my favorite film of 2010. He was also in The Perfect Storm. I do like John Hawkes- a great actor to watch. He brings life and character to each role. I like Elizabeth Olsen as well. I enjoyed her performance, very "informed, nuanced and (I want to say gritty)" but that word doesn't really feel right here. I've just written a few cliches but what I really mean is that I loved her performance and she was a joy to watch. So natural and real. But I have wandered off a little, well maybe not since the actors are important but back to the story. Life on the farm is communal though hierarchal - Patrick at the top, then the men, then the women who serve the men. Martha, when she joins the community, is given a new name by Patrick- Marcy May. The name Marlene is the name given to any woman answering the telephone at the farm.
Sean Durkin wrote and directed this story. It is told in segments, present and past. Marcy May escapes from the commune and calls her sister Lucy (Sarah Paulson who was so delightful as Harriet Hayes on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip). It has been over two years since Lucy has heard from Martha and Lucy has married Ted (Hugh Dancy). Lucy and Martha mother's had passed away we learn. It seems Martha wanders off and is gone for two years before Lucy receives the phone call. In the interim, Lucy has, of necessity, "moved on" with her life. Martha only discloses that she spent these last two years with a boyfriend, not divulging that she has been living with a communal cult. The story moves between the present and the past. As Martha jumps into the water from the boat on the lake to swim, we see Marcy May in the water swimming in the secluded swimming hole with her communal cohorts. The film continues to move back and forth in this manner.
Martha's story begins to unfold in this present/past storytelling manner. Through this device, we begin to learn her journey and rigor/controlled circumstance of the life on the farm. Part of Patrick's control is the drugging then rape of the young women, performed as part of ritual. The day after Marcy May is "indoctrinated", Patrick shares a song he has written about her to the group. This flatters Marcy May and lulls her into acquiescence. Eventually, Marcy May assists in the "indoctrination" of another young woman that includes the administration of the drug and reassurance that this will be a wonderful night. In another scene, young men and women of the commune are having sex in the same room, while Patrick observes, though not in an orgiastic way.
Once Martha has escaped the commune and is living with Lucy and Ted, she criticizes them for their essentially capitalistic attitudes. Later, Martha walks into their bedroom and lays down in bed with them while they are having sex, though not as if joining them. This clearly upsets Lucy as well as Ted.
The film does a wonderful job telling the story and unfolding the pieces bit by bit. It keeps one's interest. As the story goes on, little by little, it gets a bit more disturbing as the members of the commune stray a little from the home front. We also watch Martha/Marcy May/Marlene try to cope or maybe we don't. Maybe she's in denial. We watch her story, we watch as Lucy and Ted become more baffled because Martha doesn't open up. The decision that Martha needs professional help is not an easy one. Does this lead to the end? What is the end? And then as the film ends, it all gets ambiguous. Did she see this or that? Who was that on the shore? Or is that just an hallucination? Who was in that car? Or is MMMM just plain crazy? This is my complaint...... it's like the end of Memento: who was calling on that damn phone?
I liked the movie. It was interesting, intriguing, the acting was good. The story was moving along with an interesting device to go back and forth. Then POW! It has to end. Why is it no one can write a satisfactory ending anymore?
Oh, my, my, my, my!
Nice review although I still don't think I want to see it. I think movies are trying toward a more "realistic" ending because nothing is ever tied up neatly in life is it?
ReplyDeleteYes, the ending is disappointing unless you take it metaphorically: she will forever be haunted by her experience in the cult commune. You are right about the ambiguous ending trend. To your list I add Take Shelter and Another Earth.
ReplyDelete