What does it say to the viewer when the
director, on a DVD edition, has an introduction to a film where he
apologizes for what you are about to see? French director Pascal
Laugier writes and directs the co-produced French and Quebec, Canadian
feature film Martyrs starring the beautiful actresses Mylène Jampanoï
and Morjana Alaoui. Part of the new variety of extreme French horror
films, Martyrs may be the most literary and nihilistic of the bunch, yet
arguably the most important.
As Lucy and Anna, two young foster girls,
come face to face with a simple middle class family that may have some
relationship to the early childhood kidnapping and abuse of one of them,
shocking violence ensues. Was the family responsible for the
unexplained cruelty and exploitation which Lucy had to ordeal as a child
or was it a case of mistaken identity that goes awry? What appears to
be a revenge film filled with wrongful deaths may only be the
scratching of the surface of a story that could include demons, cults,
torture, and the very existence of God, Satan, and the afterlife.
Having a lead cast that is all female and
focusing on such horrible real life nightmares as child abuse,
sociopathology, extreme religious conviction, mans inhumanity against
man, fanatical sects both scientific and spiritual, and the unfulfilling
act of vengeance, Martyrs takes an extreme approach to topics that main
stream films only try to brush over. While leading the viewer to its
ambiguous ending, the film changes focus at a minimum of five times and
presents the audience with a new theme during each new direction. From
the very opening seconds until the rolling of the final credits, the
audience has no time to breathe or let sink in what they see during the
film’s 94 minutes. Though just over an hour and a half, Martyrs packs a
punch that most screenwriter’s only wish for.
Afterwards, Mike Neel, the director of
the films Drive In Horror Show and Infinite Santa, is interviewed about
his work and also his upcoming projects.
