Comments on: Review: Martha Marcy May Marlene

By: Sonia

Sonia — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 23:42:44 +0000

Confusing ending

By: Adam

Adam — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 01:51:16 +0000

Excellent film that purposefully carries the audience through increasing levels of discomfort to the film’s conclusion, which is an unsatisying end for those wanting resolution but I think the only available ending to avoid the film becoming less compelling. The ambiguous ending done badly is only frustrating and unfulfilling but when done well, it follows the audience beyond the last scene as it seeks meaning.

There are so many cleverly woven pointers in the story that i think it is right to leave what comes next with the audience – that casts the audience directly into paranoia that we had been witnessing build right up to the last two scenes when it turns to, maybe she will not escape them. And the truth is she never will – either psychologically or physically the Cult will remain with her. The alternative endings: suiciding by drowning in the lake, being abducted again or murdered by the Cult, or a cut forward in time to a rehabilitated Martha would all be less fulfilling.

My ending: she and the man on the rock are about to murder her sister and brother-in-law. Part of her development in the Cult is increasing levels of commitment to her new family and a casting off of her old family: change of name, morality adjustment, cleansing rituals, and I think she was always destined to return to her family for this purpose. That is what was acted out in the earlier murder scene. The stabbing girl appeared from behind the man, did not appear to enter with the group (she was in a nightgown) and I think the man was her father. And that is why the bathroom scene was so compelling as she and Patrick discuss whether she ‘is ready’. She says she is. So what happens next? The black SUV pulls them up along the road, pulls a gun and Martha is confronted with the choice of killing her remaining ‘old’ family. Of course, she may choose not to. To show that scene would require the film to make a moral choice, which I do not think the director wants to do. he wants to remain in the dissonance that Martha feels.

Or it was just well set up for a sequel ;-)

By: Mike McCormick

Mike McCormick — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 02:53:22 +0000

Mark, you are right. Lyn Thorpe, sorry but this is not what happens. Though I’ll admit, a pretty cool idea for an alternate ending.

This article and the accompanying script of the movie explains what happens. http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/martha-marcy-marlene-script-give-hints-films-open-ending/

I enjoyed the movie, though I wish the director had given more detail. When it ended I almost felt like the whole thing was a tease… but I wan’t that made cause it was good anyway.

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 16:55:31 +0000

The depiction provided by Lyn Thorpe is interesting but not at all accurate. Martha’s sister’s husband did not get out of the car at all. After the car stops and drives off again, you see Martha in the backseat and you can here her sister and her husband talking in the front seat. Furthermore, Martha’s face and behavior never change at all. If a switch occurred, don’t you think she would have had some sort of reaction? This is simply one of those endings where they provide a scenario with many possible endings and allow the viewers to create their own endings. It makes people talk about the movie more, which will ultimately generate more interest.

By: Lithien

Lithien — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 15:30:13 +0000

Oh! Is that what happened at the end? Then it was grossly edited and the director miscalculated its interpretation. There was nothing as clear as:
1. her transport car stops adjacent to another vehicle
2. the drivers inter- change and we hear her old nemesis take over at the wheel
3. We see her brother in law get out and leave her to her fate (pre-arranged by the disaffected couple).
If it had been this clear, it wouldn’t be an abrupt or ambiguous ending, would it? Plus who are the “disaffected” couple?

By: Lyn Thorpe

Lyn Thorpe — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 02:44:25 +0000

By the end of the movie, Martha’s sister & her husband had become frustrated and even angry with her psychological state. They find her somewhere to go where she will get help and she finally agrees. Minutes before departing for this place she goes swimming in the lake and we see a man (almost certainly the cult leader) watch her from the shoreline.

En route shortly after, her transport car stops adjacent to another vehicle, the drivers inter- change and we hear her old nemesis take over at the wheel. We see her brother in law get out and leave her to her fate (pre-arranged by the disaffected couple). Roll the credits. Chilling and clever and without finger prints.

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 04:24:00 +0000

I liked it a lot more than you – I think it’s one of the year’s best so far. I thought it worked as a pyschological thriller, I thought it worked as character study, and I even thought it worked as social commentary to some degree. I also thought the script was ingeniously structured. I agree that the ending was a little abrupt and a flaw but that said I thought it was well executed for what it was.

Far from being tedious, I thought the editing “gimmick” was one of the movie’s strengths. It was clear that Martha was having a lot of trouble adjusting and I thought was a very effective way of getting the audience to relate to that.

Just a very strong piece of work.