MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE
Directed by: Sean Durkin
Written by: Sean Durkin
Starring: Elizabeth Olsen, John Hawkes, Sarah Paulson, Hugh Dancy, Brady Corbet
The words iImpressive” and “debut” are often over-used (and oft-abused) whenever a new film appears written by a heretofore unknown filmmaker and/or actor, but those words, individually and collectively, apply perfectly to MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE, a psychological horror-drama written and directed by Sean Durkin, making his feature-length filmmaking debut, and Elizabeth Olsen, the heretofore lesser known, younger sister of Mary-Kate and Ashley (a.k.a., the Olsen Twins, child stars of the long-running‘90s sitcom FULL HOUSE), giving a multi-layered, intricate, subtle performance (a career-maker, most likely) equal to Durkin’s surprisingly assured writing and direction. No wonder then that Durkin received the U.S. Directing Award for Best Drama at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah this past January.
When we first meet “Marcy May” (Olsen), she’s quietly preparing her escape from a commune located in upstate New York led by the charismatic, duplicitous Patrick (John Hawkes, Oscar-nominated last year for WINTER’S BONE). She’s turned against Patrick and the cult-like commune, but the reasons behind Marcy May’s decision to leave commune are left unanswered. By purpose and effect, Durkin instantly creates a layered mystery of identity that the next ninety minutes will answer, sometimes directly, sometimes obliquely. Marcy May makes good her (temporary or permanent?) escape from the commune, but escaping her past, emotionally and metaphorically, proves to be much more difficult.
Rituals and ritualized behavior define communal living. Hierarchy, gender-based hierarchy, and not egalitarianism, defines this particular commune. Men always eat first, women second. Given their limited, under-nourishing diet, food becomes just one more weapon of submission and dominance. When she finally flees into a forest adjoining the commune, the other cult members pursue her, giving MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE a visual, subtextual link to fairy tales. Finding food (and solace) in a nearby town proves to be short-lived: Watts (Brady Corbet), another member of Patrick’s cult, finds her in a diner, but rather than attempting to bring her back to the commune, by force or the implicit threat thereof, he relents. His decision suggests ambiguous, complicated motivation, an example of Durkin’s conscious decision to avoid simplistic characterizations or cartoonish caricatures.
To Lucy (Sarah Paulson), Marcy May’s older sister and temporary savior, she’s Martha, the troubled younger sister she hasn’t seen or heard from in two years. Martha refuses to talk about her experiences with the cult, referring only to a possessive, possibly abusive ex-boyfriend (who remains nameless). Initially, Lucy and her architect husband, Ted (Hugh Dancy), seem reluctant to question or probe Martha’s vague story about the ex-boyfriend, but Martha’s erratic, eccentric behavior, behavior that simultaneously ridicules and challenges Lucy and Ted’s comfortable, comfortably materialistic, socially conventional existence. Martha’s open sexuality (e.g., nude swimming) seems to threaten Lucy and Ted’s superficially stable relationship.
MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE shifts from psychological drama to psychological horror as Martha’s repressed past returns, metaphorically, literally, or possibly both. Driven by visual cues and aural effects, MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE ‘s flashback-heavy narrative becomes unmoored from the objective world and slips, almost imperceptibly, into Martha’s subjective consciousness, taking us along with Martha, ultimately resulting in an ambiguous, open ending that some, possibly many, moviegoers (and some critics) will find emotionally and dramatically unsatisfying, at least at first glance. It’s catharsis- and closure-free, emphasizing that Martha’s journey back to normality won’t and can’t occur over a weekend, but, more realistically, over weeks, months, possibly even years.
Much has been said already about Olsen’s performance as Martha Marcy May Marlene and much more will be said as awards season rapidly approaches, all of it justified. Olsen gives a dense, multi-layered performance freighted (and weighted) with emotional fragility and vulnerability as the conflicted, traumatized title character, made all the more challenging by Durkin’s decision to focus exclusively on Martha in multiple dialogue scenes, often eschewing shot/reverse-shot. She’s closely matched (if never surpassed) by a strong, well-cast ensemble, including Hawkes, Paulson and, to a lesser extent, Dancy, yet another deserving credit to Durkin. With just one feature-length film to his name, Durkin has become a filmmaker to watch. More like this, please.
