Last night, I discussed the terribly disturbing movie Martyrs and gave my impressions and differing opinion on Martyrs in terms of what happened and how we were to perceive it. I did so, strictly from an aesthetic point of view. Looking directly at what we viewed and how we it could be interpreted. I still feel strongly that in the end, the role of martyr was switched from the tortured body of Ana to the unflinching beliefs of Mademoiselle, but I think the movie was heavily laden with metaphors towards our current world.
The first movie that came to mind while viewing Martyrs, was Michael Haneke's Funny Games. Funny Games is nothing more than a home invasion turned into an ugly game with no happy ending and not so ironically, nothing funny about it. You realize early on, this is not a Hollywood film and the ending will not resemble what you are used to. What Haneke was put the viewer in control, in a sense. He later stated that the entire movie was a metaphor for our desensitization towards violence. During the movie, seemingly normal kids do awful things and we sit and watch and in one telling scene, when the good people are about to rise up and defend themselves, he has one of the bad characters grab a remote and rewind the film, changing the outcome with horrible results.
Martyrs is much like this film in that it is a reflection of ourselves. In the movie, the quest is to find the truth about life after death, but it's about more. It's about us, plodding along in life, sitting through one horror after another, accepting it, while others gain insight and wealth. In many ways, the movie is about government's power over people, wealth and capitalism. The rich and powerful seek to use the poor and the weak to suffer for them. We, the viewer sit back and endure this brutal movie. In the beginning when Lucie escapes, we immediately feel a sense of relief, but why? The movie has just begun and we know this is not the end. That is the hardest part of the movie, when I look back. Knowing that the opening scene is the only time she (us) is free. The rest of the movie is of her or Ana being abused, tormented and controlled by forces outside of their abilities to halt or hinder. In the end, yes, Ana might have won, but at what cost. What cost was it to us as the viewer as we sit and let her suffer, as we sit and suffer while government sells us this dream. In the film it's transcendence, but it's as easily the white picket fence and the pretty home.
The end of the movie is open to interpretation, but we know that Lucie is dead (a victim), Ana is dead (a victim or martyr depending on your view) and Mademoiselle is dead (same as Ana). We know that Ana didn't give in, she fought, but in the end all she gained was the satisfaction of crushing another life, but we know it will continue. "Keep Doubting," was the final line of the movie. So the cycle will continue, with the haves enslaving and beating down the have nots. They will use them to achieve their goals without ever having to do the hard work themselves. In the end, we're all leaving here, alone, without anything other than our hope for something better. Mademoiselle tells us that it's not the way to live....or is it Ana that tells is this.
Aside from the surface story, I watched the credits with the awful sense that nothing will ever get better. We're here to be slaves to a system, regardless of our wealth. In the end, we all will sadly enter a place of nothingness and our life's desire to achieve some state or status is nothing but us wasting the time we have on this earth. As the viewer, we're saddened by Ana's demise, but is it more her death or have we become Mademoiselle, desperately craving the answer that never comes, but in an inaudible whisper? We'll never know.
The first movie that came to mind while viewing Martyrs, was Michael Haneke's Funny Games. Funny Games is nothing more than a home invasion turned into an ugly game with no happy ending and not so ironically, nothing funny about it. You realize early on, this is not a Hollywood film and the ending will not resemble what you are used to. What Haneke was put the viewer in control, in a sense. He later stated that the entire movie was a metaphor for our desensitization towards violence. During the movie, seemingly normal kids do awful things and we sit and watch and in one telling scene, when the good people are about to rise up and defend themselves, he has one of the bad characters grab a remote and rewind the film, changing the outcome with horrible results.
Martyrs is much like this film in that it is a reflection of ourselves. In the movie, the quest is to find the truth about life after death, but it's about more. It's about us, plodding along in life, sitting through one horror after another, accepting it, while others gain insight and wealth. In many ways, the movie is about government's power over people, wealth and capitalism. The rich and powerful seek to use the poor and the weak to suffer for them. We, the viewer sit back and endure this brutal movie. In the beginning when Lucie escapes, we immediately feel a sense of relief, but why? The movie has just begun and we know this is not the end. That is the hardest part of the movie, when I look back. Knowing that the opening scene is the only time she (us) is free. The rest of the movie is of her or Ana being abused, tormented and controlled by forces outside of their abilities to halt or hinder. In the end, yes, Ana might have won, but at what cost. What cost was it to us as the viewer as we sit and let her suffer, as we sit and suffer while government sells us this dream. In the film it's transcendence, but it's as easily the white picket fence and the pretty home.
The end of the movie is open to interpretation, but we know that Lucie is dead (a victim), Ana is dead (a victim or martyr depending on your view) and Mademoiselle is dead (same as Ana). We know that Ana didn't give in, she fought, but in the end all she gained was the satisfaction of crushing another life, but we know it will continue. "Keep Doubting," was the final line of the movie. So the cycle will continue, with the haves enslaving and beating down the have nots. They will use them to achieve their goals without ever having to do the hard work themselves. In the end, we're all leaving here, alone, without anything other than our hope for something better. Mademoiselle tells us that it's not the way to live....or is it Ana that tells is this.
Aside from the surface story, I watched the credits with the awful sense that nothing will ever get better. We're here to be slaves to a system, regardless of our wealth. In the end, we all will sadly enter a place of nothingness and our life's desire to achieve some state or status is nothing but us wasting the time we have on this earth. As the viewer, we're saddened by Ana's demise, but is it more her death or have we become Mademoiselle, desperately craving the answer that never comes, but in an inaudible whisper? We'll never know.
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