FILM REVIEW: MARTYRS
Wednesday, September 30, 2009 at 8:30PM | Erika Szabo 
Released: 2008
Directed by: Pascal Laugier
Starring: Mylène Jampanoi, Morjana Alaoui
Genre: Horror/Revenge
French horror is one of the only platforms allowing a currently all-too-safe genre to find its excitement, power and strength again. Throughout these passed few years, we have seen films like Inside, Frontier(s), Trouble Every Day, Calvaire and High Tension amaze and infuriate audiences alike. By using violent outrage to drive their allegorical plots, some viewers have found these films to be transcendental; others mark the films as senseless productions. With that said, director Pascal Laugier’s Martyrs is sure to cause the biggest stir yet.
Martyrs (a French-Canadian co-production) begins in the early 1970s. Lucie, a young girl missing for over a year, manages to escape the disused slaughterhouse she was confined and tortured in. Lucie is soon admitted into a mental hospital and befriends Anna, another patient at the hospital. Years pass, yet Lucie (now played as Mylène Jampanoi) still finds herself to be an enormously damaged woman. Anna (Morjana Alaoui) remains her only friend and support throughout the years.
As Lucie wrestles with personal demons, she seems governed by the twin pulls of fear and fury – fear that her tormentor will catch up with her again and fury at those who subjected her to such torment. When Lucie finds the people who she believes captured her fifteen years earlier then blood must surely flow.
Martyrs is destined to achieve instant notoriety worldwide thanks to its unflinching and unsavory behavior. However, it doesn’t necessarily rely on any shock value and is not meant to entertain with violence. With that said, it’s impossible to relate this film to the likes of Hostel, Saw or various other shock films, yet it will no doubt be compared to them, even if Martyrs displays intelligent layering and issues of substance. Pascal Laugier’s film is incredibly perceptive, offering a wide array of emotions and opinions throughout.
As the title implies, the film directly approaches the act of martyrdom – an incredibly touchy subject for many. While some may feel that Martyrs insults its audience by suggesting that the violence depicted had some intellectual purpose, others will suggest that martyrdom serves a strong purpose that, ironically, is not about religion. All that is required is a person with power, resources, and a disregard for other’s well being that allows them to create and discard victims in their quest to get what they want. The opening act is about what this pursuit costs in human terms, the second act is about what it costs one person, and the finale is about how selfish the whole pursuit is in the first place.
My one complaint was Laugier’s apologetic response to the film – both stated in the intro to the film and within various published articles. He obviously had a message to tell when creating Martyrs, so hearing him apologize is sure to let some strong believers (or thinkers) to feel a little let down. A director is not meant to regret his own work, he’s meant to understand and tell a message.
Relentlessly bloody, technically stunning, intelligently structured, and blessed with fearless performances from its two leads, Martyrs underplays all the shock and opts instead for realism that makes it all the more unsettling. Martyrs is a unique creation in the horror genre, not for everyone, but for those who have the patience and intelligence to look behind the torture trappings, will be rewarded with a truly visceral experience, above and beyond mere “torture porn” (as it has frequently been described).
SHARP OBJEX: 3 out of 4
Martyrs Trailer
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