It can’t be described as a horror film, but there is something fitting about “Martha Marcy May Marlene” being released at Halloween weekend. This is an unnerving movie that sometimes feels like a true, nonsupernatural haunting.
The curious title will be explained in the course of the movie; a great deal else will not. But the names are all used by a young woman, originally called Martha, played with mysterious intensity by Elizabeth Olsen.
We meet her as she appears to be escaping from a farm. No one tries to physically stop her, but there is a sense of menace as a young man tries to talk her out of leaving.
Martha spends the remainder of the film at her sister’s house, but she flashes back frequently to what happened before she escaped from the commune: Apparently she was drawn into a cult, with a Mansonlike leader (John Hawkes) who is manipulative, gentle and scary by turns.
The sister (Sarah Paulson) and her husband (Hugh Dancy) are upwardly mobile types, completely bewildered by Martha’s wandering ways. Or is Martha not merely bohemian, but more seriously disturbed?
On a number of levels, director Sean Durkin keeps us guessing about what has actually happened here, but if Martha’s flashbacks are to be believed, some awful things went down at the commune. All of this builds to an ending that is wickedly well-judged for its ability to stick in your brain in a bothersome way.
Durkin’s got a sharp eye for widescreen composition, and if anything the film is a little too arty for its own good. There’s no air in it, but there’s no denying how effective the approach is.
One problem: When a movie depends on a character withholding information from others, it can put a strain on credibility, not to mention a viewer’s patience.
John Hawkes, so memorable in “Winter’s Bone,” is similarly mesmerizing here. He shows you how a Charles Manson type could spin a web around people, as he moves from warm flattery to worldly wisdom to a vaguely threatening kind of authority.
The big revelation is the performance of Olsen, who, if she was known at all before this, was known as the younger sister of the twin child stars Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. She has an unfinished quality that makes you believe Martha could fall under the spell of a cult leader, but Olsen brings an unexpected gravity as well.
That contradiction works really well. Is Martha suffering a post-traumatic episode or is she right to still feel at risk? Pondering that question makes for a diverting experience.
“Martha Marcy May Marlene” (3 stars)
A young woman (Elizabeth Olsen) escapes from a cultlike commune, and can’t stop flashing back to the experience as she recovers with her sensible sister (Sarah Paulson). The movie’s a little arty, but it certainly creates a disorienting suspense, and Olsen and John Hawkes are eerie in their roles.
Rated: R for nudity, language, subject matter.
Showing: Guild 45th, Pacific Place.
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