Film: Martyrs
Release date: 25th May 2009
Certificate: 18
Running time: 95 mins
Director: Pascal Laugier
Starring: Morjana Alaoui, Mylène Jampanoï, Catherine Bégin, Robert Toupin, Patricia Tulasne
Genre: Drama/Horror/Thriller
Studio: Optimum
Format: DVD
Country: France/Canada
Martyrs was one of the most talked about films at the Cannes Film Festival 2008. Pascal Laugier has created a film that has stunned all who have seen it, and it has emerged, overseas, too, as a stand out piece in the ever familiar ‘gore porn’ genre. Not for those of a nervous disposition, what is it that makes this French gem get under your skin so much? Expect no constraints, no rest and no mercy.
A young child named Lucie escapes the torments of a torture chamber in an abandoned slaughter house. With police and carers baffled by the ordeal she endured, Lucie stays silent about her abusers, and refuses to shed any light on this heinous crime. She is placed in an orphanage where she meets Anna, a friend she can trust. It soon becomes apparent to Anna that Lucie is still being abused by unseen and perhaps supernatural forces.
Years later, Lucie arrives at the house of a seemingly idyllic family. She is intent on revenge, and convinced the parents are her abusers, she kills the family with a shotgun. Anna is called to the house to help Lucie who is in a state of distress, but whilst she waits her supernatural tormentor shows herself in the form of a malnourished, abused and ghoulish girl. The creature attacks and nearly kills Lucie, but she is saved by the arrival of Anna, as the creature disappears.
As Lucie rests upstairs, Anna begins to bury the family. She finds the mother still alive and, despite her loyalty to Lucie, decides to help her. Lucie finds Anna dragging the mother to safety and stops the rescue, finishing the mother off. As Lucie lashes out at Anna, she is attacked once more by the creature. As she is stabbed and sliced, Anna watches on but sees no creature. The creature is seemingly one of Lucie’s imaginations, and as the creature kills her in her mind, she commits suicide in front of Anna.
As Anna is left in the house alone, she makes the most disturbing discovery. The house has an underground dungeon filled with pictures of child torture, medical records and a bound and heavily abused girl. Soon she is taken hostage by a society intent on making her a martyr...
There is a lot to set this aside from the mindless excess of the Saws and Hostels that brought this genre into popularity. Laugier’s script is strong, and he puts an involving twist on the torturer’s motive, and enough mystery surrounds the creature that plagues Lucie, and the events of her ordeal, that when her torturers are revealed, the audience really feel the perversity of their experiment.
As the viewer is left begging for a breather by Lucie’s suicide, the society is revealed. They are a highly organised team whose objective is to seek enlightenment on the afterlife; they achieve this by exposing young girls to such degrees of torture that they see life beyond death and achieve ‘Martyrdom’. This arc serves for the filmmaker to produce some of the most explicit, skin shredding and effecting visceral afflictions seen on screen - beyond this, it raises the question of what it is one really seeks by playing voyeur to such horror.
Like Haneke in Funny Games, Laugier is concerned by the viewer’s pleasure and intrigue at such an on screen spectacle. As a title reveals at the end, the word Martyr is taken from the Latin for witness, and it is us who play witness to the nature and effect of gratuitous human abjection. Martyrs in its success plays on a natural human desire to see the lengths of extremity the film goes to. As the hype grew, and word spread of Laugier’s attention to pushing the boundaries, more and more wanted to see it.
You feel for the two leads, as Laugier really puts them through their paces. Mademoiselle notes that “women are more responsive to such treatment,” and it is certainly women who seem to be the most popular victims in this genre. Laugier is aware of this, and ever conscious of viewer response, he creates a bond between the girls that has all the sex appeal and suggestion that is so prominent in French new wavers such as Baise Moi.
This film will not please everyone. After a fast paced and engrossing beginning, the film slows into the almost casual daily abuse of Anna. For anyone watching, this is a commitment, as you are asked to endure beating after beating, slicing after slicing and scream after scream. Her degradation comes in the form of a gradual experiment, and you feel the weight of the relentless attacks - repelled but still captivated.
This is 108 minutes of film you will never forget and, although some may want those minutes back, it will live much longer in the memory. This is a true filmic experience rich in thrills and even more in spills. As an addition to a genre that is far too easily re-done, Martyrs possesses an intelligence and intent that goes beyond just gore. There is, however, a hell of a lot of gore. LW
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