I've been getting some bad feedback about my writing in the blog. (Not the others, my team is awesome). And though I took the criticism very personally and got pretty upset about my writing, I decided to say FUCK IT. It's my blog, please stop reading if you hate it so much. It's not supposed to be Rotten Tomatoes or IMDB or Mediacritic. It's blog style, and it's a place for suggestions and opinions. ANYWAY WHATEVER I CAN WHINE FOREVER.
This movie is ICONIC. There will never be a movie like this ever again, and it is one of the most underrated movies ever. We have many examples of great French horror. But Martyrs will always take the cake. This movie goes so far beyond its theme and leaves a viewer asking many questions. It's 100% rewatchable, and it brings an incredibly valuable theme and message to horror. Nothing since has come close. SPECIAL NOTE: this is Martyrs (2008) directed by Pascal Laugier. I didn't know, but apparently there has been a terrible remake by the same name in 2015. It's American. This same exact thing happened to my other favourite French horror 'A l'interiuer'.
I completely understand that for the most part countries like Japan, Italy, Germany, and France (amongst others) will do a far better horror movie than Americans. It's sad that probably a huge portion of horror fans won't see a movie because they're not interested in subtitles. Sometimes it's not worth it, I get it. THIS IS WORTH IT. I have such a hard time with subtitles because I'm mostly blind and can't understand what's happening if I'm trying to read. But this one is worth it.
And I guess here is where Shaun would say, "Alright we will begin with Sara's entire synopsis of the film before we discuss it." It's just how I go through it okay! I'm working on it. Martyrs is a movie about friendship, it's about trust and it's about the benefit of the doubt.
Our story is about two young girls who grew up in an orphanage together. Anna and Lucie. Lucie has extreme trauma from being tortured as a young girl by strangers - and she believes she is being attacked constantly by some kind of deranged demon woman. Who is fucking terrifying by the way. This demon is causing Lucie a lot of physical harm and injury all throughout their lives. It's hard for Anna because she wants to believe Lucie but she has never seen anything or anyone after Lucie. She always sees the aftermath. It's understandable that Lucie would behave erratically because she has faced such severe trauma, but Anna still has to wonder. 15 years later, after apparently Lucie had been searching for her abusers, she finds them in a giant beautiful house and murders the entire family. This scene is absolutely beautiful, the blood, the acting, and the loss of humanity in Lucie's eyes is all just perfection. Lucie believes the adults were responsible for her torcher. But as the viewer we don't know a single thing. 15 years later how would she remember, or be able to find them, or decide to do this herself with no certainty. We have no photos, no proof, no flashbacks from Lucie's memory. There is no build-up to the murder. There are no flashbacks in Lucie's memory visually for us. It seems like a crazy and assuming act on Lucie's part.
The introduction of the movie leads us to believe that Lucie is suffering from something like schizophrenia, PTSD, or something else like that. It makes the movie seem like it's about how whether or not you can trust people based on their word or not. It's also about the mental effects of abuse. Okay, okay I'll try and skip a few spoilers to not ruin every scene in the movie. What we are left with is Anna becoming stuck in the exact situation as Lucie was when she was a girl. Talk about the wrong place, at the wrong time. The movie takes quite a bit of a theme turn here because it becomes a little bit religious. They reveal to her that they basically are looking for someone to be a Martyr. Religiously, I guess it means someone who suffers a great deal or dies for their religious beliefs. But in the movie a Martyr is someone who completely let's go of their humanity, feelings, identity, and existence. These people believe that when this happens someone can see the afterlife. They can see where people go after they die (I guess cause when you die you let go of everything.)
The filmography is great. Anna looks amazing. She is beautiful even covered in blood. But also after all her beatings and torture, her makeup for her injuries are SO well done. They honestly look real, and make it feel like you really feel her pain. I mean, one critique is that she has lost so much blood and probably has so much internal bleeding that it's confusing how she's even alive. But I guess they're also trying to act as though they're harming her but keeping her alive to reach the point of transfiguration. I wonder if it's because they told her that they are looking for someone that can completely let go, was the reason why she is handling this oddly well. (I mean I say that in a strange context). Some of the best makeup in horror happens after all of this. And the story concludes not far after. (I know, I know, terrible sloppy attempt at dodging spoilers) This movie is absolutely amazing. It's hard for the squeamish for sure. It's gory as fuck. But I think it's an incredible movie with a very unique story if you can get past all the gore. Or if you're like me, then you'll love it and it's beautiful and wonderful and disgusting!
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