History Film / MarthaMarcyMayMarlene

* JerkassHasAPoint: Ted criticizes Martha constantly and has no sympathy for her plight. However, he does have a point that Martha relies on his hospitality, eats his food, and wears Lucy's clothes while recovering from her (awful) experiences, yet feels superior enough to judge him and imply that his way of life isn't good enough.

%%* SoundtrackDissonance: The credits.

* AlliterativeTitle: '''Ma'''rtha '''Ma'''rcy '''Ma'''y '''Ma'''rlene

* BringMyBrownPants: A particularly explicit example (and a rare one where this trope isn't played for laughs). After flashing back to the time she helped prepare the next new female recruit for Patrick's sexual pleasure, Martha is shown from behind, sleeping the on floor next to the bed, as her nightgown gets wet; when she awakens afterward she takes it off and tries to hide it under the bedsheets. Later dialogue (see quote above) suggests the flashback was a dream she was having.

* {{Commune}}: The cult which Martha was part of apparently lived as one, since she denounces having possessions, and they appear to have shared chores. She also lacks any normal sense of privacy later.

* PsychologicalThriller

* RapeAsDrama: See SexAsRiteOfPassage.

-->'''Martha:''' It's not your fault you choose to measure your success by money and possessions. It's just not the ''right'' way to live.
-->'''Ted:''' It's not the right way to live? What is the right way to live exactly? Martha, what is the right way to live? Is it vanishing off the face of the earth and not calling your family for two years or until they're worried sick about you? Is that the right way to live? Or is it living without possessions until you actually need some and turning up on ''our'' doorstep where you know you can get some? Is that the right way to live? You sit there lecturing us about our lives, and so far I have not witnessed one sign that you have any values of your own. You should remember, Martha, you are living under ''my'' roof, and you are eating ''my'' food, and you should watch your mouth because you are rude!"

* SoundtrackDissonance: The credits.

* UnreliableNarrator: See ThroughTheEyesOfMadness.

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: The cult is loosely inspired by the [[UsefulNotes/CharlesManson Manson "family"]]. This is primarily in terms of the family's recruitment methods and the activities they carried out together, and less in terms of their beliefs - Patrick makes no mention of possessing any racially-oriented beliefs, for example. Patrick himself is practically an {{Expy}} of Manson: like Manson, Patrick is a folk guitarist, and Creator/JohnHawkes bears more than a passing resemblance to the man himself.
** Notably though, despite no mention of racial beliefs, all of the cult members are Caucasian (see MonochromeCasting).

* BreakTheCutie: Martha herself.

* {{Cult}}: Obviously.

* DeadAlternateCounterpart: InUniverse: The cultists rationalize their apparent murder of someone whose home they were invading by invoking the inversion of this trope.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The film goes out of its way to highlight how Martha's relationship with Patrick is akin to an abusive, romantic one (for example, she never tells Lucy that she was involved with a cult, insisting that the last two years were merely spent with a boyfriend who lied to her). She ''also'' sees him as a father figure. Commence {{Squick}} now.

* EvilPhone: The suggested reason why Martha disconnected the phone (see above)

* InterruptedIntimacy: See RaisedByWolves.

* NoEnding: [[spoiler: We don't ever find out if the cult is real, if the man following them is a cultist, if he tries to attack them, if he follows them so the cult can come after Martha later, if she ever gets over her obvious mental health issues, if she ever tells her sister what is going on, or if she ever repairs her relationship with her sister (assuming she isn't killed by the cult). If the cult is real we also don't see if they eventually get shut down over the murder, rape, and implied infanticide. If it isn't real we have one clue (a fragment of an excuse about a boyfriend) as to what might have really happened to Martha and nothing else. It would be as if ''Film/BlackSwan'' had ended twenty minutes earlier, mid-scene.]]
** Arguably, this is the overall point of the film. The true focus of the story is Martha showing, admitting and eventually seeking help for her mental problems, rather than Martha running away from the cult.

* RaisedByWolves: Martha has been a member of the cult for so long that she's forgotten all about basic social niceties such as not climbing into bed with your sister [[{{Squick}} while she's having sex with her husband]].

[[quoteright:314:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/martha_marcy_may_marlene_5791.jpg]]

A 2011 independent PsychologicalThriller film, written and directed by first-timer Sean Durkin and starring Creator/ElizabethOlsen, Creator/JohnHawkes, Creator/SarahPaulson and Hugh Dancy.

* NoEnding: [[spoiler: We don't ever find out if the cult is real, if the man following them is a cultist, if he tries to attack them, if he follows them so the cult can come after Martha later, if she ever gets over her obvious mental health issues, if she ever tells her sister what is going on, or if she ever repairs her relationship with her sister (assuming she isn't killed by the cult). If the cult is real we also don't see if they eventually get shut down over the murder, rape, and implied infanticide. If it isn't real we have one clue (a fragment of an excuse about a boyfriend) as to what might have really happened to Martha and nothing else. It would be as if BlackSwan had ended twenty minutes earlier, mid-scene.]]

The film was well-received, picking up a directorial award at Sundance. Critics particularly praised the unsettling storyline and the performances by Olsen and Hawkes, with many especially surprised by Olsen's performance, considering who her [[MaryKateAndAshleyOlsen sisters]] are (in his review, Creator/RogerEbert quipped that "Elizabeth Olsen can know that no one will ever ask, 'Which one is she?'").

[[caption-width-right:314:What? No, I'm [[BlatantLies absolutely fine, I swear.]]]]

* CaliforniaDoubling: Half averted. The scenes with the cult were actually shot at a farm in the Catskills. The scenes at Lucy and Ted's house, while represented as being in Connecticut, were also filmed in the Catskills.
* CellPhonesAreUseless: At the beginning of the movie, Martha explains her lack of contact with Lucy over the last two years by saying she lost her cell phone and "got used to living without it."[[note]]The director's same-universe short ''Mary Last Seen'' suggests the cult may have stolen and destroyed it as part of her recruitment.[[/note]]. All the other phones we see in the movie are land lines. Justified perhaps by taking place in rural areas that in real life do have rather spotty cell coverage.