Martha Marcy May Marlene

2011
R
1h 42m

IMDb RATING

6.8/10

57K

YOUR RATING

Elizabeth Olsen in Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)

Haunted by painful memories and increasing paranoia, a damaged woman struggles to re-assimilate with her family after fleeing an abusive cult.

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Psychological Drama Psychological Thriller Drama Mystery Thriller

Haunted by painful memories and increasing paranoia, a damaged woman struggles to re-assimilate with her family after fleeing an abusive cult.Haunted by painful memories and increasing paranoia, a damaged woman struggles to re-assimilate with her family after fleeing an abusive cult.Haunted by painful memories and increasing paranoia, a damaged woman struggles to re-assimilate with her family after fleeing an abusive cult.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.8/10

57K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 22 wins & 74 nominations

Trivia
Sean Durkin was looking for an unknown actress to play the role of Martha, which was the only role auditions were held for. Elizabeth Olsen auditioned twice for the role, and had to begin filming only two weeks after winning the part.

Goofs
During Martha's breakdown in the party scene, the bow on her white dress is hanging loose when she is being corralled into the bedroom by Lucy and Ted. In the next shot, the bow is done up again.

Quotes
Patrick: You know that death is the most beautiful part of life, right? Death is beautiful because we all fear death. And fear is the most amazing emotion of all because it creates complete awareness. It brings you to now, and it makes you truly present. And when you're truly present, that's nirvana. That's pure love. So death is pure love.

Connections
Featured in Maltin on Movies: Margin Call (2011)

Soundtracks
Ba Bop Bop Bop
Written by Brady Corbet and Christopher Abbott
Performed by Brady Corbet and Christopher Abbott

User reviews239

Review

Featured review

7/10

Surprisingly good

I'd never heard of this and when scrolling to find a movie it popped up.

A slow, intense, psychological character study. There are some distressing scenes (sexual assault, violence) that were acted brilliantly.

The silence throughout the movie added to the intensity and put the viewer firmly into the mindset of the main character (Martha), who was excellently portrayed by Elizabeth Olsen.

Sarah Paulson (I should add I am biased towards her as she is an exquisite human) added depth and a gentleness that was required for the character of Martha to explore her situation in the scenes between them.

The aspect and post production on this was beautiful, the lighting throughout was spot on. The way that many scenes in the 'cult' were in near darkness contrasting to the light filled space once she left gave excellent visual cues and a sense of the tumultuous emotions being felt by Martha.

Would definitely watch again to see if there were background things I've missed.