Dir. Sean Durkin, USA, 2011, 102 mins
Cast: Elizabeth Olsen, John Hawkes, Sarah Paulson, Hugh Dancy
Review by Matthew Rodgers
A stylistic neighbour to the similarly themed, Winter’s Bone, this indie drama is a truly unsettling study of cult ideology and the seeds of Stockholm syndrome that are planted within their members’ minds. It is all anchored by a stunning turn from Elizabeth Olsen.
Having fled her own mini Jonestown (the informal name of an American commune where a mass-suicide took place in 1978), Martha (Elizabeth Olsen) escapes to the country retreat of her big sister Lucy (Sarah Paulson) and Lucy’s new husband (Hugh Dancy). A happy couple who are trying to start a family, their lives become punctuated by her increasingly erratic behaviour, as the echoes of her previous life come to the fore.
Through a series of half-remembered flashbacks we are given a peek into Martha’s past at the commune and her abuse at the hands of the “family’s” patriarch, Patrick (John Hawkes). In the present those around her struggle to come to terms with this meek shell of a woman’s inability to integrate back into society.
Sean Durkin’s unusual film is one of real, stripped back, naturalistic beauty. The emphasis on natural sound compliments the themes perfectly, and when a score is required, it’s intrusively raw and jarring in effect, adding a palpable sense of unease to the tenser moments.
The editing is so expertly done that it ensures narrative intrigue never lets up. The way in which timelines segue into one another is seamlessly inventive, like a translucent dance: the stirring of a cup, the speaking of a name. It’s an evolving tapestry of a tale, which unfolds in a dreamlike fashion, drawing a parallel with Martha’s fractured state of mind.
What you shouldn’t expect is a traditional narrative, because there is very little in the way of catharsis. Anyone hoping for a film of redemptive reformations should brace themselves for something bereft of hope and with an overriding sense of bleakness.
This can make it hard to find much empathy for the assorted souls, but it does guarantee a series of very impressive performances. Olsen is particularly outstanding as the enigmatic protagonist. We are drip fed information about Martha’s life prior to the cult and this only exacerbates our desire to find out what’s behind her languid nature. It’s Olsen’s hunched, vulnerable psychosomatic turn that is the core of the movie.
No cult is complete without a memorable figurehead, and John Hawkes is passively terrifying as the leader, who hugs more than just trees. From the moment his Gollumesque Patrick utters “if you’re going to live here, you’re going to need to be a part of things”, it both bumps your geese and helps to solidify your own internal conflict as to why on earth Martha would choose to stay.
Toward the end it threatens to derail from its Virgin Suicides style tranquillity and veers towards Last House on the Left territory, but thankfully that never materialises. Instead it leaves a frustrating but indelible impression of hopelessness for all involved, that may leave some feeling emotionally shortchanged, but is narratively satisfying.
- posted on 24/05/2012 00:25:44
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