Lucie (Mylène Jampanoï) was horribly abused as a child, and even her best friend Anna (Morjana Alaoui) knows tragically little about the trials of her past.
Lucie was discovered fleeing from a gruesome scene of torture and abuse in an abandoned slaughterhouse. She never speaks of her captors, nor does she speak of the horrible abuse she suffered under their control.
And, when Lucie discovers those who wronged her, she is intent on scathing revenge, to avenge others before her and to tackle personal demons. But she is clearly a troubled girl, and the events that unfold are beyond even her imagination.
‘Martyrs‘ was, and still is, truly unique. The drama is simply enthralling, and even as the jarring horror of the film fades, the events that unfold are so unpredictable that you feel as though you’ve watched a show-reel of four or five smaller films seamlessly entwined together with twists that leave you genuinely shocked.
The dark, psychologically challenging tone is similar to that of it’s French sister ‘Inside’, and, at some points, challenges on the violence and gore stakes. As director Pascal Laugier suggests, the film is so hard to deal with because of the injustice you feel. There is no reprieve for the characters and no reprieve for the viewer, and the issues are endlessly difficult to deal with.
But, this film really stands out for it’s entirely believable but utterly horrifying approach to one of the weirdest days anyone could imagine. It’s a difficult film to forget and is irrepressibly irreplacable.
Tags: cinema, drama, film, foreign, france, horror, martyrs, Morjana Alaoui, Mylène Jampanoï, thriller
