I don't like this abrupt meaningless endings because I get the feeling that the writers ran out of ideas or they went on a strike or they were afraid to choose one specific way to finish the story or ... you name it. It may work ok with a love story or a horror movie etc. but not with films of this sort.
Other than that, "Martha Macy Marlene" runs fine.
I bet the ending was one of the first things the script writer came up with. You can tell the whole movie is written around it. I mean, not the ending itself, but the never ending ambiguety.
shareThe ending was freaking perfect.
shareThese type of endings were trendy in the 60's and 70's in Europe... and then in the 80's in Amerika. Nowadays we prefer more real commitment to the story, the characters and the viewers.
shareImho it's not really a story, there is no resolution. The last act of the story is missing.
Of course the ending means that she will go back to the cult eventually, but imho that is just no ending.
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and then in the 80's in Amerika.
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It really was. This is how I reviewed the film on Twitter:
"Martha Marcy May Marlene": Way to stick the landing! The incredibly intense and harrowing ending transformed a good movie into a great one.
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Films like these ask the audience to form their own discussions and conclusions. Yes, shame on all of the filmmakers who want us to think!
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You'd garner more respect if you stopped confusing sarcasm with wit.
shareThing like this are effective the first, and maybe second time, you see it done in a film within a relatively short amount of time, say, a decade. After that, it isn't effective, or cleverly, just derivative and boring. We saw a glut of twist endings in film after the success of The Sixth Sense, and ambiguity has been all the rage since Inception. Just stop already screenwriters, it doesn't work anymore and looks more like a lazy way to end a story, it's easy to write something that doesn't wrap things up in a clever way.
shareNeither do I. Women are likely to relate to this (considerably?) more than men; no offense, it's just biology.
Because . . . they're like bad sex.
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The whole point of the ending is that it never really ends for her (or the audience). She will, for the rest of her life, be jumping at shadows.
shareThis is what I thought and it really sux for her.
We live by the Sun, we feel by the Moon
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The rest of her life is about ten more seconds after the film ends. Same for her sister and brother-in-law. Maybe thirty seconds max.
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My top 250: http://www.flickchart.com/Charts.aspx?user=SlackerInc&perpage=250
Yeah, same here. Endings like this works on some films, not on all. This is the case where it really doesnt work. Come on, we need to know. I can watch another 30-45 minutes added to the movie but they decided to just end it there. Probably it's because the tone of the movie, they're afraid to go into it any further and came up with some tone changes but whatever. I feel like they're just too scared of ruining things and just end it with some abiguous ending.
shareI'm shocked you say you could handle another 45 minutes of the movie. :)
By the end I didn't care anymore. I think they could easily have had a real ending - I think this was a cop out.
totally agree, cop out
people say "we're supposed to be feeling the way martha is feeling" but THAT ending, martha knew then and there whether her feelings were legit but we're left to not know
and then that wicked smile
i think they were stalking her, but then that smile its like, was she apart of the plan all alone, are they about to kill her family? i honestly hated the ending, lol, and because of that, cant really enjoy the movie. now it may be like funny games (american version) where i hated it then recommended it years later, but i dont like it
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I have no idea why you thought the cult was going to kill her family and take her back? There was nothing that suggested that at all! Let alone that she wanted to go back to the cult - she was totally screwed up by the cult. She could've just run off and gone back to the cult any time, but she chose to go with her sister to the city and to seek help for her PTSD.
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The ending made the movie! But I guess you didn't get that they were about to die? I don't know how you add 30-45 minutes when all the main characters are dead.
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My top 250: http://www.flickchart.com/Charts.aspx?user=SlackerInc&perpage=250
This was basically a love story that turned into a horror movie, and the ending is awesome, though really horrifying and sad.
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My top 250: http://www.flickchart.com/Charts.aspx?user=SlackerInc&perpage=250
As an ordinary viewer from some moment I started to be scared of the fact that members of a sect can do harm to Martha's family. It was really good work of the scriptwriter, especially when we see the meaningless murder that members of a sect did.
So the ending left us unsatisfied and cramped (illegible to our own understanding). We believe that Martha was scared, and we believe that members of a sect could be really dangerous, but the only thing that the scriptwriter left unclear what chance he left for Lucy and Ted, what fate befell them. Should they know about the danger of Martha's past?
I don't like this abrupt meaningless endings because....