Martyrs

2008
Director: Pascal Laugier
Cast: Morjana Alaoui, Mylene Jampanoi and Catherine Begin

Plot: A young woman's quest for revenge against the people who kidnapped and tormented her as a child leads her and a friend, who is also a victim of child abuse, on a terrifying journey into a living hell of depravity.

French Horror Goes Deep
by C. True

I recently rewatched Martyrs, which I had originally seen a couple of months ago, for the first film in a depraved romp through contemporary French horror films. I loved Martyrs the first time I watched it and was half expecting to be disappointed the second time around. It’s hard for some horror movies to retain their strength after the shock and surprises have all been given away in a first viewing. But Martyrs is not one of those movies. It is truly original both in its story and its handling of violence. And it is a violent one; if you’ve stomached any Eli Roth I don’t think the gore will bother you but it was certainly disturbing on both viewings (at my independent videostore this movie would have an added hand drawn sticker proclaiming “THEY KILLED THE KID!” reserved for movies so depraved that they actually…). The movie opens with our killer, Lucie, as a child escaping what appears to be a torture dungeon. She is taken in by an orphanage where she is befriended by another girl Anna. Since her rescue Lucie is haunted by a Ring/Grudge style figure who moves in that not-right-way that is unreasonable creepy. As a young woman Lucie thinks she finds the people who tortured her as a child and Anna tags along because she loves Lucie and senses how badly this could go. And boy does it. But the violence obviously has a purpose and the motivation for the brutality is one of the more unusual and original parts of Martyrs. Lucie kills not because of some sick masochistic drive, but because of revenge and importantly I think feminine revenge. She does not revel in the violence but instead is killing out of the pain she still feels from her childhood abuse. She is still the victim and although she feels she must exact revenge, it is not because she thinks it will make her feel better. She cries over the dead bodies still wondering why, not something I think a man, or at least a movie-man, would do if he were in a similar situation. It is still great to see Tarantino-style women get revenge and feel great about it, but this approach was more insightful, and worked more for the horror genre.

The fun thing is that the movie starts out with so many questions and they are solved with concise well done story-telling. Who or what is the figure that haunts Lucie? Is this figure real or is Lucie more mentally disturbed from her childhood than she knows? Were these really the people that tortured Lucy? And why was she tortured in the first place? I think undoubtedly the movie handles the first three questions well, but upon watching the movie with more people I suspect the answer to the last question will be viewed more controversially. You will likely either love this ending or you will think it flopped (“too French” was a complaint that was bounced around during my second viewing). It is a little deeper (or tries to be) than expected, but that was what I liked about it. If a horror movie delivers on the scares with a plotline that is even remotely original, I’m willing to watch whatever deep philosophical ending they can come up with. Even if you don’t think it works, it’s still a great change of pace.