MARTYRS
****
Grotesque, disturbing, and surprisingly brilliant, Pascal Laugier’s Martyrs is a stunning and brutal 2008 French-Canadian film that defies the restrictions of genre assignment: it’s almost too fantastic and heady to be considered simply a “horror flick,” and to classify it as “torture porn” is instantly insulting. Still, by all accounts if there were such a thing as a “Torture Porn” section at your local video store (assuming you still have one), you’d find this film there a few cassettes back from Hostel. Blame the prolonged sequences of graphic child mutilation for that.
At once an ultra-violent revenge thriller, a terrifying monster movie, and an examination on both the bonds of childhood friendship and the dangerous power of zealous ambition, Martyrs is a deceptive work of art that presents itself as something you’ve seen before - and more than likely, didn’t necessarily enjoy beyond mere shock value - but then shifts a twisted gear, hurling one clever surprise after another at the audience, all of which seem as integral as the last in telling what ends up being a cruel little fable disguised as…well, another piece of torture porn.
To delve too quickly into the plot would be a crime - the surprises start virtually ten minutes into the film - but in short, the film opens as a young girl named Lucie escapes from the clutches of an unseen figure who has been brutally torturing her. Lucie soon finds herself under the protective wing of childhood friend Anna, who dedicates herself to protect her wounded best friend. Safe in bed, Lucie opens her eyes one night to a brief and unsettling image of a monstrous little girl, staring at her in the dark and growling; the screen goes black, the credits roll, then the movie unfolds fifteen years later. The rest, really, is best left to the audience to experience for themselves.
This may be perhaps this reviewer’s most hesitant recommendation of a film. Martyrs is a surprisingly original and provocative film that should not be seen alone, not merely because it is profoundly disturbing, but because its somewhat ambiguous climax will no doubt leave you hungry to discuss and examine. A masterful blend of intellect and savagery, it recalls classics such as Pasolini’s Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom, or Noe’s Irreversible, in works of art you wish more people would see, if only they wouldn’t hold the recommendation against you.
- Logan Crow
Comment:
