MovieChat Forums > Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011) Discussion > I'm in the minority in my interpretation...

I'm in the minority in my interpretation of the ending. Spoiler

posted 7 years ago by JC_Aliss
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I have a couple of reasons for believing Martha was NOT found by the cult, despite the two hints that seem to indicate otherwise (the man...Patrick or whichever other it may have been...watching her from the shore, and the traffic snafu before the credits.)

She was three road hours away from where she escaped. From deep within the Catskill woods to somewhere in Connecticut. The cult lived a spartan life, off the land, walking pretty much everywhere despite having the vehicle, etc. So how would they have found her? The phone call would NOT have led them to her, because during the cult flashback we saw Martha answer a call at the commune. All calls came into one old-fashioned landline rotary phone. Those phones do not have caller ID or tracing capabilities.

So if not the phone, the only way Patrick could have tracked her down is, quite frankly, nonexistent. They weren't super-human. He knew EXACTLY where to sit on the lakeside? He knew the EXACT moment to be parked by the road? He knew the EXACT road they were going to take out of town, and when? He knew their vehicle well enough to be quick enough to spot it on a busy road just in time? (Ever try finding your new, unmoving car in a parking lot even a week after you bought it?)

There was no indication outside of Martha's paranoid mind that any actual stalking was taking place.

And that's what we were seeing. Her paranoia and fear, and the indication that Patrick and the cult still controlled much of her mind (as also demonstrated quite a bit throughout the movie, with her extreme difficult adjusting to normal society.) They WERE following her, just not physically.

Just my take.

[–] Existen-Chill 7 years ago

I think there's a possibility that they'd been following her from the start. Remember at the beginning when Martha is on the phone with her sister and says "I can't wait that long"? It would have taken Martha's sister three hours to reach her, the cult could have easily fueled up and tailed her from the get-go. They also could have tracked down the license plate number from the car that picked her up. I know they lived on a farm without many resources and whatnot, but a huge liability like Martha might warrant finding a way.

Also, despite having an old phone, the cult must have had some way of getting Martha's number because they call right back. I'm not sure if *69 is still a thing, but who's to say when exactly this film even takes place?

[–] Prelude (1443) 7 years ago

I think that's a possibility and a very plausible interpretation of things. I took things at face value, believing that the guy in the white t-shirt did indeed track her down and is now following them back to the city. But reading your take on it, I can completely see how perhaps this part is all in her mind and is equally valid, as it certainly shows how deeply the cult got into her mind, so that even if they have "let her go," her mental illness now won't let her go of the cult and what they did to her mind.

It's a fair point about the phone not having the capability for call return -- I had not noticed that, and when the phone rang back I thought for sure they had used *69! But....it could be just a random call, and Martha's paranoia kicked in.

It's hard to tell if this was the filmmaker's intent, or just a total goof on their part.

I can also entertain Existen-Chill's idea that they may have been tracking her all along, from the moment they saw her walking away. Someone did call out "where are you going Marcy?" so it's not like they weren't aware from the start that she had left.

They are so into mind games and manipulation that it's entirely possible they would "soft track" and make it seem like "hey, cool, no biggie" like the guy did in the diner -- but all along they are keeping track of her and won't ever let go. Their whole MO is to be insidious, worming their way into make everything seeming like it's all cool, so this would fit with that.

I'm in the minority in my interpretation of the ending. *Spoiler*

I'm in the minority in my interpretation of the ending. Spoiler