Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)

Elizabeth Olsen, the far more talented younger sister of 90's celebra-twins Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, had her big break with this psychological thriller/drama. I first recall seeing Elizabeth in this years Godzilla movie, but she really didn't have a lot to do there, it was a very stock part, so it wasn't until I saw Martha Marcy May Marlene that I realized how really talented she actually is.

Elizabeth is tasked with carrying the film, which is a lot to ask of someone for what was essentially their first feature. But Elizabeth dose it, and is all the more impressive for such a strong performance in a rather nuanced and complicated part. Elizabeth plays the titular Martha "Marcy May" Marlene, a young woman whose life was apparently rather difficult, and who stayed at home with her dying mother while her older sister (Sarah Paulson) was busy with her own life. Shortly after their mothers death Martha disappears from sister Lucy's life altogether, with out a word, not to reappear until years later, now acting strangely and giving her sister and her new husband (Hugh Dancy) next to no information about where she's been.

Where Martha has been is in a cult, a small group, twenty or so, mostly women, living commune style in the Catskill mountains, where they are lead by a psychologically manipulative and sexually abusive charismatic named Patrick (John Hawkes). Martha manages to escape and get in touch with her sister who puts her up in her lake front summer home, Martha quietly attempts to self deprogram from the cult, but isn't fully successful and makes matters worse through her difficult manner with family and her refusal to disclose just what's going on. The story movies back and forth from the present narrative to a flash back depiction of Martha's time with the cult, Elizabeth Olsen very impressively embodies her character as  essentially two different people, pre-cult and post-cult, and shows how one is slowly transformed into the other. A strong performance in a surprisingly unique film, I'm kind of surprise that I can't think of a single other portal of cult deprograming in film. Anyway this movie is a strong effort all around. ***1/2