Plot
A 22-year-old woman named Martha has been living as a member of a cult in the Catskill Mountains for two years, where she endured abuse. The cult patriarch, Patrick, granted her the name Marcy May. Eventually, she decides to flee and escapes into the woods, arriving at a nearby town. In a diner restaurant, she is confronted by Watts, a cult member, who attempts to persuade her to return, but when she refuses, he lets her leave. Martha calls her sister, Lucy, who picks her up and takes her to the vacation lake house in Connecticut that she shares with her husband, a successful and wealthy architect named Ted.
While staying with Lucy and Ted at the lake house, Martha begins exhibiting strange behavior by skinny dipping in a public lake, sleeping all the time, not eating, and arguing with her sister and brother-in-law about how to live, specifically arguing over the need for career and possessions. Lucy reveals she abandoned Martha and is now attempting to get her back into her life, while she and Ted are also trying to have their own child. One night, Martha climbs into bed with Ted and Lucy while they are having sex, angering Ted. Martha then attempts to phone the cult as she misses them, but she hangs up when cult matriarch Katie, answers using the code name "Marlene Lewis” and finds out Martha is on the phone, which terrifies her.
In flashbacks, Martha recalls a series of disturbing events that led to her escape from the cult. Martha became a member through her friend, Zoe. She initially seems receptive and kind, though somewhat wary, of Patrick, Katie and Zoe. She is later convinced by Zoe and Patrick to let her guard down and ‘share herself’, only to end up being drugged by Katie and brutally raped by Patrick, in an initiation cleansing ritual (which she later facilitates for another incoming female member, Sarah). She was then gaslit by the cult matriarch, Katie, being forced into accepting that her rape was good, and convinced by Zoe that her cleansing and the “horrible pain” she endured was a good thing. Zoe and Martha sleep beside each-other, where Zoe tells Martha she cares for her (though is envious of the attention Patrick shows her and constantly plots in drugging and allowing Patrick to abuse Martha). Patrick would later urge her to kill a cat, which she refused to do. Her refusal prompts him to berate her and for failing to follow the cult's ideals and threatens to ‘cleanse’ her, in front of other cult members, to establish his dominance. Later the cult are seen swimming naked in a lake, where Patrick swims towards Martha and fondles her. Another scene shows Martha climb into Patricks bed as she desperately wants his affection, however the next morning Martha wakes up to Patrick having sex with her, though not as aggressively like the first time, she doesn’t stop him but also appears angry and distressed.
Martha subsequently, began participating in burglaries with the other cultists, including one where they murdered a homeowner who walked in on them. After witnessing the murder, Martha had a mental breakdown, before Patrick forcefully subdues and berates her again, for failing to follow the cult's ideals, before gaslighting and fondling her, telling Martha that she is his favorite person and he will never let her go. He then assaults her in the bathtub, reminding her that he loves her. Lucy and Ted host a party at their home, inviting numerous friends from the city. Martha is visibly nervous during the gathering, and she has a psychotic episode when she misidentifies the bartender as a cult member, and she needs to be sedated. Ted attempts to convince Lucy to send Martha to a psychiatric hospital, an idea Lucy rejects.
Later that night, Martha has a nightmare of being sexually abused by Patrick and suffers a panic attack. Ted tries to calm her down, but Martha, thinking he is Patrick, kicks him down the staircase. Lucy threatens to send Martha to a psychiatric hospital, to which Martha angrily responds that Lucy will be a terrible mother. The next day, Lucy and Martha somewhat reconcile, and Martha goes swimming. She sees a man watching her, across the shore, and she leaves the water. When Martha departs the house with Lucy and Ted, she looks behind from the backseat of the car, as another driver follows them.
Production
Sean Durkin started writing the script of Martha Marcy May Marlene in 2007. [4] When researching his script, Durkin read about what he calls "the big ones" of cults: Jonestown, the Manson family, the Unification Church of the United States and David Koresh. He realised he wanted to make something more experiential than political and downplayed the ideology and goals of the cult. [5]
While researching, Durkin became fascinated by how someone gets into the farm, commune, or group, and he made a short film of the name Mary Last Seen about it, starring Brady Corbet, who plays cult recruiter Watts, in both the short and feature films. Mary Last Seen won the award for best short film at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival Directors' Fortnight. While Mary Last Seen was about how someone gets into the cult, Martha Marcy May Marlene was about what happens to someone when they exit. Durkin made the short to show the world Martha was in and also with the intent to send it out with the script for Martha Marcy May Marlene to potential investors. [4] Mary Last Seen was selected for the Sundance Film Festival, and Durkin was given a distribution deal with Fox Searchlight. [6]
Durkin and cinematographer Jody Lee Lipes were inspired by the films Rosemary's Baby , 3 Women , Klute , Interiors , and Margot at the Wedding . The look of the film was particularly inspired by the last film. [7]
Elizabeth Olsen admitted that her nude scenes were a bit odd to film, but she said that simply diving into the water was far more perilous than taking her clothes off, in front of a camera, because "The lake was daunting, and in some lake scenes, we could only shoot once, because physically, it was too cold for a body to be in there very long." [8]
