‘Martha Marcy May Marlene’ Review: Inside a Tormented Life

Trapped inside the theatre and your own mind. That’s how Sean Durkin’s film “Martha Marcy May Marlene” makes you feel. Ultimately it’s a mixed blessing though, as the journey Elizabeth Olsen goes on, stuck in a cult before escaping and trying to put the pieces of her life back together, should make you feel uncomfortable, impatient and claustrophobic. Behind earthy, beautiful and deceptive cinematography by Jody Lee Lipes, you, like Olsen’s character, are almost brainwashed into loving this film.

But a closer look at it reveals its weaknesses.

Slow plot development with no real climax make this more of a character study than a true cinematic work. Most of the action takes place in the beginning of the film. The rest of the time is dedicated between showing the unraveling of Olsen’s character and her attempt at readjusting to society. It’s an uncomfortable and weird tale, with hints of heartwarming moments. Her family clearly loves her, as her sister [Sarah Paulson] and brother in-law [Hugh Dancy] take her off the street without hesitation. But they too can do little to help. Unable to open up to her family, all she can do is continue her tormented life.

This film does a fantastic job of showing the emotional captivity Olsen’s character deals with on an everyday basis, both while on the ranch and when she escapes. The situation she gets herself into with her family is real and effectively shows the desperation of the character. While they seem trivial at first, [her lack of manners at the dinner table] they get progressively worse and make the film interesting enough to keep you waiting for something.

Unfortunately that never comes.

Olsen is both innocent and evil in this flick and while her beauty helps her a tad, it’s her eyes that help her the most. Displaying innocence on-screen rarely seen, you connect with her character from the start. Her pain and suffering is yours. Her interactions with cult leader Patrick (Played evilly well by ‘Eastbound and Down’s John Hawkes) will emotionally tear you apart. Witnessing her loss of innocence and her later role in doing the same thing to others, you see how far she’s fallen.

The only problem is the film offers nothing else to draw you in. The ending will induce a “what the hell” kind of feeling, making it memorable for the excellent performances of Olsen and Hawkes and the cinematography. In the end, while not entirely passable, it fails to make the most of its positives.

While Durkin, who also wrote the film, should be commended for getting the most of his two stars, the lack of real action after the first few scenes and the hap-dash ending are enough to wake you out of the trance the film puts you in early on.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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