The movie is about the girl Martha (Elizabeth Olsen) who lived in a cult for two years and finally escaped from the leader Patrick (John Hawks). She came to her sister Lucy (Sarah Paulson) and her brother-in-law Ted (Hugh Dancy)'s family, in order to grasp the only life-saving straw, Martha desperately catered to the middle-class style of her sister's home. But with the passage of time, Martha's cult memory made it more and more isolated, and gradually went to the point of paranoid collapse.
When watching a movie, the anxiety that I gradually felt, and the gloom that gradually hit, made this calm horror seem extraordinarily scary. The two-line narrative method allows people to see the brutal waves in the pastoral life of the cult organization while seeing the emotional estrangement in the life of the middle class. As the protagonist of the story, Martha has been floating between the two. In addition to the two-line narrative, the director also deliberately used a variety of methods such as flashbacks to allow the audience to see the truth of the story a little bit, and slowly understand the ugly face of the cult organization that rapes girls, mutilates personality, and violent crimes, and gradually becomes Martha. The more and more weird and disorderly behavior in her sister's new life in the middle class is worried and fearful. This kind of immersed emotions brought in a strong sense of depression, and the director was very calm and quiet. In the end, the beautiful shell of the cult organization's pastoral song fell apart, and Martha's personality eventually split and collapsed. The open ending at the end of the film is a bit scary and very intriguing. The sense of fear seems to be lingering and lingering in people's minds.
Elizabeth Olsen played Martha in the film and her performance was remarkable, so many media predicted that she would nominate for an Oscar through this film. This film is actually her first film work. It is worth mentioning that Elizabeth's sister is the famous "Sister Olsen" in the United States. When the film was released in Sundance, it was called "The Bones of Winter" in 2011. What's interesting is that the protagonists of the two films are John Hawks who are late bloomers, and John Hawks plays the cult leader in the movie, Martha. The source of horror. John Hawks played the boss's image very brilliantly, insidious, cold, and unfathomable. While raping girls, he also led them to a violent and perverted path. John Hawks is very suitable for this role. After years of training, this thin man finally released his bottomless skills.
Speaking of cult movies, this year's "Red State" is also involved, but compared to the quiet and indifferent of "Double Martha", "Red" seems too noisy. The peasant commune in "Double-faced Martha" is like a co-produced life, and it is somewhat reminiscent of last year's "Dog Tooth", which is the same absurd and abnormal, but "Double" has fewer political metaphors and more human struggles. The movie not only wants to show the struggle between cults and human nature, but also Martha's own inner struggle and her own redefinition of self-belonging. Just like the film title: Martha is her real name, Marcy May is the name that the cult boss calls her, and Marlene is the name she uses to answer calls in the cult.
Finally, the director used natural light throughout the filming process, without additional lighting, so no matter how evil the movie is, at least it looks beautiful.
View more about Martha Marcy May Marlene reviews
