Martha Marcy May Marlene Review

Elizabeth Olsen has already gained great praise and secured awards for her début performance in the new movie Martha Marcy May Marlene and it is clear to see why. Directed and written by Sean Durkin, this psychodrama allows Olsen the platform to start climbing to soaring heights in Hollywood. Granted she continues to be sensible about the roles she chooses. Martha Marcy May Marlene is the story of Martha Marlene (Olsen) who took the name of Marcy May when she lived with a cult at Catskills commune in upstate New York. For abbreviation’s sake, this review will refer to her as Martha (the title is a tongue-twister in itself). Martha is trying to find her role in a family. We know very little of her past before she lived in Catskills but we become aware that Martha struggles with familial relationships.

Flashbacks reveal Martha’s time on the Catskills commune after she has arrived to live with her attentive sister Lucy (Sarah Paulson) and brother-in-law Ted (Hugh Dancy). But are they memories or dreams? Martha isn’t too sure about this herself and neither is the viewer. These flashbacks reveal disturbing, upsetting and uncomfortable experiences in the cult. John Hawkes plays the sinister and unsettling role of the cult leader Patrick. Clearly Martha continues to be haunted by the man. And what were once places of natural beauty; the lakes and forests become something else.

Elizabeth Olsen is believable as the brainwashed and paranoid (obviously not a good combination) Martha Marcy May Marlene and her haunting performance in this psychological drama makes it credible. And what is even more haunting is the fact that the circumstances, in which the character finds herself, can be someone’s reality. This film is recommended if you are in the mood for an aesthetically slow, sombre and quiet offering.