"Martha Marcy May Marlene" may be drawing attention as the movie with the weird title, or the movie with the other Olsen sister in it. But there's a lot more to first-time Sean Durkin's creepy, unsettling drama than those obvious hooks.
The film, which TheWrap's Alonso Duralde said "slowly but assuredly packs the dread and discomfort in a style that Roman Polanski would admire," features a remarkable performance by Elizabeth Olsen (younger sister of those twins) as a young woman trying to adjust to life outside the cult where she'd spent the last two years.
It takes place over the course of two weeks, where Olsen's Martha (the rest of the title is made up of her various pseudonyms) battles dislocation and a paranoia that may or may not be justified.
Also read: 'Martha Marcy May Marlene' the Chilling Feel-Bad Movie of the Year
Durkin's film does not offer easy or clear explanations, particularly with an ending that caused the Toronto audience I was in to erupt in a chorus of confusion: "What just happened?" "Who was in that car?" "What's going on?"
Infuriating as it can be to some viewers, the approach makes perfect sense, and helps make the demanding and thought-provoking drama one of the year's toughest and most haunting films.
TheWrap spoke to (above, left to right) Durkin, Olsen and last year's Oscar nominee (for "Winter's Bone") John Hawkes, who plays the cult leader with quiet menace.
GENESIS
Sean Durkin: Ultimately, the idea came out of my fear of cults, and fear of conforming. Religion always scared me growing up, and large conforming groups. But I was still like a huge soccer fan and would go to the stadium and be just as conforming as anything, so there's some hypocrisy there.
I found a story about a girl who escaped from a group that turned violent. The leader of the group later tracked her down, and instead of threatening her he gave her money and wished her well. And that struck me as a great place to start.
Elizabeth Olsen: True fear really fascinates me. This paranoid state that she's in was fascinating, and trying to figure out hope, and maybe some sort of light and possibility was also interesting. Every part of my body felt game and ready to do.
Durkin: I didn’t want somebody who was just cut off and depressed, because then who cares? But when I met Lizzie, she was just the opposite of Martha. She was very vibrant, a bright personality, very infectious. So I thought that that, underneath Martha's shell, could create something interesting.
Olsen: It felt special to me, but I also was coming at it from a naïve point of view of not really understanding what it meant to get a distributor, or to get a studio behind you, or a festival buzz.
