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"Olsen gives a magnificently ambiguous performance... and Durkin knows precisely how much information to reveal and how much to leave frighteningly implicit." - The A.V. Club
A beautiful, emotionally shattered young woman named Martha (Elizabeth Olsen) makes a dawn escape from a cult compound in the Catskill mountains, fleeing to the luxurious home of her married sister and attempts to put her life back together. But with her past spilling into the present, escape from Patrick (John Hawkes), the demented cult leader, might not be so easy.
In Martha Marcy May Marlene, first-time director Sean Durkin has crafted an insidious, slow-burn psychological thriller where the gap between reality, dream and memory becomes desperately menacing. Hallucinatory and unsettling, this is a remarkably confident debut from a bright new talent.
Winner of Best Director at Sundance.
D/S Sean Durkin P Josh Mond, Antonio Camos, Chris Maybach, Patrick Cunningham Dist Twentieth Century Fox TD DCP/2011