Martha Marcy May Marlene

Martha Marcy May Marlene
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Sean Durkin
Produced by	Antonio Campos Patrick S. Cunningham Josh Mond
Written by	Sean Durkin
Starring	Elizabeth Olsen John Hawkes Sarah Paulson Hugh Dancy
Music by	Daniel Bensi Saunder Jurriaans
Cinematography	Jody Lee Lipes
Edited by	Zachary Stuart-Pontier
Production company	This Is That
Distributed by	Fox Searchlight Pictures
Release date	January 21, 2011 (2011-01-21) (Sundance) October 21, 2011 (2011-10-21) (United States: limited)
Running time	102 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1 million
Box office	$5.4 million

Martha Marcy May Marlene is a 2011 American thriller drama film written and directed by Sean Durkin, and starring Elizabeth Olsen, John Hawkes, Sarah Paulson, and Hugh Dancy. The plot focuses on a young woman suffering from delusions and paranoia after returning to her family from an abusive cult in the Catskill Mountains. The film contains several references to the music of Jackson C. Frank.

Early one morning, Martha flees from an abusive cult in the Catskill Mountains led by an enigmatic leader, Patrick. She phones her sister Lucy, eventually asking for her help. Lucy picks up Martha at a nearby bus station and takes her to a lake house in Connecticut which Lucy shares with her husband, Ted. Martha tells Lucy only that she had been living with her boyfriend in the Catskills, leaving out all mention of the cult. During the following days, Martha continues to exhibit unusual behavior, with little regard for the commonly accepted societal boundaries of American culture.

In a flashback, Martha is seen meeting Patrick for the first time. He declares that she "looks like a Marcy May." It is explained to Martha that the group is working toward being self-sufficient on their farm. Later, Martha awakens in the middle of being raped by Patrick, and afterward another woman assures her that she was "lucky" to have Patrick as her first sex partner. Later, he sings Jackson C. Frank's song "Marcy's Song" in front of the group, and now addresses Martha as Marcy May. The cult members are shown swimming naked together at a waterfall.

At the lake house, Martha walks into Lucy and Ted's room while they are having sex and gets into bed with them. A horrified Lucy explains that this is not "normal" behavior, and Ted is furious about the incident. Martha continues to struggle with the return to her old life.

In another flashback to her time on the farm, Martha introduces a new girl, Sarah, to life on the farm. She explains that they all help out with Katie and Patrick's baby. When Sarah comments that all the infants in the community are boys, Martha ominously replies that "he only has boys". Martha later prepares Sarah for her "special night" with Patrick, presumably the same ritual of rape that Martha experienced. The preparation includes drinking a drugged drink, although Martha is tricked into drinking the drugged drink and is then raped again by Patrick.