Martha Marcy May Marlene

 If you’re familiar with the series Portlandia you might have seen the skit ‘cult farm’ (series 1), where a couple order chicken and ask the waitress if the chicken was ethically treated, the waitress unfamiliar with such trivia suggests to visit the farm the chicken was raised. The couple do, but become involved in a cult community run by the farm’s male leader and many wives.  This skit sprung to mind while viewing of Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011), directed by Sean Durkin. Although admittedly in a much darker context, we see a similar theme explored.

in an organic community, Marcy May (Elizabeth Olsen) is the name given by the disturbingly good, leader and tryant Patrick (John Hawkes), who strips her of real name Martha and any other identity. Patrick manipulates her into believing she is his favourite but like the other women, she is no more than a gendered body that hangs up clothes and cooks while the men do the physical labour and ‘share’ the women sexually. But Marcy May escapes this commune and hand held camera work reveals a shift in the narrative, moving from Marcy May to Martha.

 Martha is taken on board by her egocentric sister Lucy (Sarah Paulson) and architect boyfriend Ted (Hugh Dancy). She spends the rest of the narrative at their grand holiday house three hours away from the commune. The different lifestyle confuses and challenges Martha, notably as to why their house is so big for only two people. Cutting from the past to the present, we see the different lifestyles accommodated, with naturalistic wide shots of the commune to the sterile cleanliness of the a picture perfect holiday home.

Martha Marcy May Marlene is a brilliant study of Marcy May and or Martha, who cannot differentiate between her past bad experiences in the commune and the current insecurities during time with Lucy and Ted. We learn that each of these dominate personalities(Patrick and Lucy) are as monstrous and self centred as each other and watch the gloomily tragedy that no one can truly wants to help Martha.