Martyrs (2008) — A Review: That was intense …

7th June, 2017.

Hmmm … 

How are you with films?

Sitting and watching them, occasionally?

I’m something of a movie fan.

So, every-so-often?

I’ll quite happily sit myself down to watch one.

Sometimes, I like company, sometimes I don’t.

But every time?

I try to watch something I think is worth watching.

And something that I hope, makes for a readable post.

I think I’ve found that something, tonight: after a friend suggested it.

Whether it’s something that’s comfortable to watch is a whole other matter … 

~≈Ê≈~

Martyrs opens wit a pre-title teaser: showing us Lucie, a hideously tortured little girl, escaping captivity, after being isolated, force-fed and chained to a commode for at least a year.

And doing two things, once she is taken into care at a large hospital.

Refusing — as some do — to talk about her experiences.

Making friends with a fellow patient: called Anna.

It’s only in private?

That Lucie tells Anna she’s being haunted by a creature only she can see … 

~≈Ê≈~

Many years later?

The friends have tracked down Lucie’s torturers: to a posh, but quiet part of France.

Anna is shocked: as Lucie calmly proceeds to shoot the entire family.

Only for Lucie to kill herself: the creature, a horrible scarred young woman, is a manifestation of the guilt Lucie feels for leaving another child behind.

Anna is left to mourn her friend: only to discover the house has another victim.   In the cellar.   And that that victim’s torturers?

Are still around … 

And pleased to have a new victim … 

~≈Ê≈~

Now … 

Comfortable … ?

Hmmm … 

I have a feeling that — out there, somewhere — is my ideal, perfect, film.

One that will be both intellectually satisfying, aesthetically pleasing, and that will be in my collection for many years.

Actually?   I suspect that film is 2001: A Space Odyssey.   Or V for Vendetta.

At ANY rate?   I don’t know that Martyrs is that film.

It is, however, a film that is extremely well made.

What you get on screen?

Sympathetic characters: from the doctors who counsel Anna and Lucie in the opening parts of the film, to the cult group responsible for their abuse.

Motivated central characters.   Anna and Lucie are deeply scarred by their troubled pasts: scarred, and motivated to do something about it.

A great premise: Lucia and Anna are tortured not because they’ve been caught by the usual run of dribbling serial killer, but by a cult, curious to known about life after death.

Torture.

About that torture … 

Martyrs* is a very good film: very watchable, indeed.

It does have a level of casual violence towards women I found perfectly justified by the plot: indeed something that’s a reflection of the real world … 

But very uncomfortable to watch.

I feel no hesitation in recommending Martyrs, the 2008 version, to you: it’s a horror film that will leave a mark.

But it’s not going to be for everyone.

Martyrs

★★★★