Martha Marcy May Marlene

So at first when I heard about this movie last year, I was extremely interested because any movie with that title just had to be good, right? I'd heard tons of buzz about the movie and about Elizabeth Olsen's stellar debut performance. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see it in the theaters. Then I became a little wary of the movie because I started hearing about how terrifying the movie was. I googled some of the basic plot points ( I know, I'm lame ) just to make sure I could handle it, being the scaredy cat that I am. Obviously, I made it through it in one piece. The film premiered at last year's Sundance, is from first time writer/director Sean Durkin, and is also Elizabeth Olsen's debut performance. The movie was picked up for a small release into about 180 theaters last year and brought in about $3 million.

The plot follows Olsen as the title character, Martha, who escapes from a "family" cult in upstate New York to seek refuge with her sister. In the cult, she was called Marcy May, and forced to play her role in the "family". She later takes the name of Marlene when speaking on the phone, as all of the "family" women do. So basically, the title is quite awesome. I digress. Olsen's character is plagued by her memories and brainwashing during her stay with her sister which eventually lead to her inability to function socially.

Thankfully, the plot isn't about crazy cult members trying to come after her. It's actually quite scarier, since it's her mind that is coming after her and it's not anything she can hide from. Plus, this is something that can, and I'm sure does, happen in our world. The plot takes the old cliche'd path to inter-splice the past and present together chronologically to reveal each story together. However, this time it's done right. The editing was brilliant but I'll address that in the next paragraph. The intersplicing of the past mid-scene made complete sense because she was reliving her experiences at the smallest trigger and the plot helped to reveal how at every moment she was thinking about her past experiences. Her character was wonderfully well written and quite empathetic, even when she made some bad choices.

The editing was pure brilliance. The scenes would cut and almost melt seamlessly into each other - again showing how she was reliving her experiences at every moment. How she couldn't escape what was in her mind. It was just great. Loved it. The ambiance and colorization between the past and present scenes were perfectly matched and almost indistinguishable until you saw the context of the scenes - again reinforcing the character's internal struggle. The lack of suspenseful music (with the exception of one scene) was again brilliant. This movie was suspenseful based on the performances and struggle of the characters alone.

Olsen really did a fantastic job. Something I would not have expected from a debut performance from the younger sister of the Olsen twins. She was riveting to watch and delivered her lines with the utmost realism. She was able to make external, through her face, body, and movements, what was going on internally with this character. Hugh Dancy was also quite convincing and effective in his role. As were most of the cult members.

In the end, the movie was not as outwardly terrifying as I was afraid of. In an essence it was even more so, however it was something I could deal with. I liked how it wasn't the run-of-the-mill story where the brainwashed damaged character turns completely crazy while dealing with their issues. Instead, her brainwashing intensified until she was able to not completely function socially but at the same time not go batshit crazy. This movie may feel slow to those who are not invested in this character, but I don't see how you couldn't be invested since Olsen really steals every scene she's in. "Do you ever have a problem telling what's a memory and what's real?"