Martha Marcy May Marlene

[luckylibrarian]

Has anyone seen this? I'd like to know what people thought of the ending (or non-ending.)

[MadameX]

I want to watch it but I'm not sure I can handle what I understand is implied (not shown) violence toward animals. I'm a huge wuss when it comes to stuff like that. I'm really curious about Elizabeth Olsen though.

[Patsy]

I saw it. I thought the ending was absolutely fantastic. Really great film. It's very slow and atmospheric, which, if you're not into that sort of thing, will obviously not suit you, but the whole point of the film is to immerse you in the atmosphere, so it works very well. There is plot, but the atmosphere thing kind of ties into the ending - like, the actual details kind of aren't the point.

Madame, the stuff with animals is all implied and off-camera, and the only actual suffering involved is human and psychological. But if that's an area of great sensitivity, obviously it'd still be upsetting.

spoilers/warnings. obviously the whole thing is greatly unsettling (it's a psychological thriller), but these are parts that people might particularly want to avoid?

in spoiler tags because they discuss bad things, and because they're spoilers ;)

- sexual violence (first warning is the main one - I handled the rest fine)

- rape scene at about half an hour in - leave for two minutes/skip about two minutes forward if you want to miss it all. The only not-rape-scene stuff you chance missing is one of the other cult women calmly convincing Martha afterward that it's all okay, she's been cleansed.

-Martha is an accessory to another cult member induction rape - actual violence not shown

-oh, and there's more stuff implied -- well, just about everywhere, but the particular scene I'm thinking of is when Patrick joins Martha in the bathroom. Nothing shown, but if the slightly stronger atmosphere would upset you...

-other violence

- animal stuff. I didn't find it at all hard to stomach on behalf of the animal. Scene starts with Martha and a male cult member shooting in the forest, lasts about five minutes if you want to skip it; it's basically only important for character stuff (Patrick trying to assert control)

- home invasion violence towards the end. You'll know it's coming.

possibly also the boundary issues Martha has, but then, if I threw out warnings for every destructive behaviour in the film, the list would get pretty long.

[darareaksmey]

Honestly, something must be wrong with me, because I had no idea what you were talking about when I read "violence toward animals." To me that part was very, very insignificant.

I watched the movie because I couldn't imagine what kind of actor Mary-Kate and Ashley's younger sister must be. Now I'm a huge fan of hers. I found the plot to be plodding and unrealistic, but I couldn't take my eyes off Elizabeth Olsen. She was perfect for this role.

That said, how you gonna end a movie that way? The ending was a bit too preciously indie for me.

[Kitty]

It's been advertised at a local theater here (I guess it was released a while ago if that theater is showing it), but seems to be marketed as another chick flick. I'm not sure if I want to see it still, I can't handle sexual violence (no, I didn't look at the spoilers).

[darareaksmey]

It's been advertised at a local theater here (I guess it was released a while ago if that theater is showing it), but seems to be marketed as another chick flick. I'm not sure if I want to see it still, I can't handle sexual violence (no, I didn't look at the spoilers).

I can't handle it either. I would say that in comparison to a lot of what you'd see in the movies, this was very, very mild. But I hadn't heard anything about the movie before I saw it. If I had heard the term "sexual violence" I might've been put off from it too; but in this case IMO it's on the very low end of the scale. I"ve been known to walk out of movies, but it takes a good deal more than what was in this.

[luckylibrarian]

I had to think for a minute about the animal violence. It was an insignificant part of the movie, and it wasn't shown. The sexual violence was more disturbing, IMO.

[fakepigtails73]

Really liked it. Saw it at the cinema last fall... Elizabeth Olsen has much more talents than her sisters.

[

The ending is that one of the guys from the cult hit the car on purpose so that he could snatch Martha and bring her back. She was a witness to their "Manson-esque" murder, so..I didn't like the ending as it left me on my appetite, so to speak. I saw it with my mom and she thinks that it was all in Martha's head (the sightings of that guy, etc...) due to heavy PTSD. Also, what happened to the baby girls born at the cult house? I somehow doubt that Patrick only sired baby boys.

I think that the actor that played Patrick (the cult leader) should have won an Oscar for best supporting actor. The part where he played the guitar and sang to her in the barn was creepy as all hell. The cult looked like a 2010 version of the Manson family living in the Catskills.