Susan Granger’s review of “Martha Marcy May Marlene” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have made millions as teen idols but their younger sister Elizabeth takes a star turn in this disturbing psychological drama as a damaged, secretive young girl who escapes from a cult.
Jumping back and forth in time, the surreal story follows vulnerable Martha, whose various names reflect her splintered identity. First seen as part of an insidious commune in upstate New York, where women are not only subservient to men but are only permitted to eat after they do, she takes refuge with her older sister, Lucy (Sarah Paulson), and architect brother-in-law Ted (Hugh Dancy) at their large, lakeside vacation home in Connecticut. Traumatized by her violent experiences yet uncomfortable in their upscale environment, she is not only unable to distinguish between what she remembers and what is real but also unable to discern what is and is not appropriate social behavior. Martha’s erratic alienation and ambivalence are apparent since she’s still obviously under the influence of the cult’s charismatic, manipulative leader, Patrick (John Hawkes), a satanic satyr who dubbed her “Marcy May.”
Sharing an acting coach with her sisters, Elizabeth Olsen started auditioning in fourth grade, landed a commercial and quit. Then, while in college at NYU, she understudied Margarita Levieva in the Broadway play “Impressionism,” landing her first movie, “Peace, Love & Misunderstanding,” and was about to start filming when she convincingly nailed this elusive ‘brainwashed’ role at her first reading.
Written and directed by 29 year-old Sean Durkin, who is one-third of Borderline Films, a Brooklyn-based collective run with Antonio Campos and Josh Mond who met at NYU film school, the bizarre idea emanated from his own religious history, having been sent to a strict Anglican school in England. While Durkin delivers on the ominous, secretive sense of menace, there’s no excuse for the ambiguous, cliff-hanger ending which serves as an unsatisfying conclusion.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Martha Marcy May Marlene” is a mystifying 6, mixing the feeling of belonging with the sensation of still feeling lost.
