The supposed peak of the New French Extremity, Martyrs has nothing to say, at all. We just get to endure Anna being tortured, degraded and demoralized for 40 minutes – and all the other women that show up based upon a shitty excuse. The other movie I watched by Pascal Laugier is Ghostland and the same happens. I guess this is Laugier’s thing, apparently – pure misogyny, and this movie is full of it. From what I read, both main actresses, Morjana Alaoui and Mylène Jampanoï, wouldn’t work with Laugier ever again and the same can be said from Taylor Hickson in Ghostland after suffering a serious injury while in the hands of this director. It’s a worrying retrospect.
I am aware the fourth stage Anna goes through can be shocking, but for a film that takes itself that serious, it just felt ridiculous to me. The movie tries to justify itself and sell some pseudo-philosophical afterlife martyrdom pretentious bullshit as the reason why these atrocities are committed by these high class white people. It’s hollow, it’s meaningless, it’s tedious, it’s totally lame. Martyrs lacks so much substance that it’s a ghost film and a home invasion before it becomes a torture porn. Its script seems more suited for a short film.
The good things about this film? The hallucination that is tormenting Lucie is creepy, especially the way it moves and all the acting is pretty convincing. Aaand that’s about it.
I’ve seen a lot of people saying they won’t be watching Martyrs ever again for it being shocking, depressing, gruesome and etc. I’m not watching it again as well, but for a different reason, it’s just bad. I don’t really get how this film is so high praised.
Review by VicenteBlockedParentSpoilers2023-01-29T23:59:30Z
Well, it’s definitely not what I expected.
The supposed peak of the New French Extremity, Martyrs has nothing to say, at all. We just get to endure Anna being tortured, degraded and demoralized for 40 minutes – and all the other women that show up based upon a shitty excuse. The other movie I watched by Pascal Laugier is Ghostland and the same happens. I guess this is Laugier’s thing, apparently – pure misogyny, and this movie is full of it. From what I read, both main actresses, Morjana Alaoui and Mylène Jampanoï, wouldn’t work with Laugier ever again and the same can be said from Taylor Hickson in Ghostland after suffering a serious injury while in the hands of this director. It’s a worrying retrospect.
I am aware the fourth stage Anna goes through can be shocking, but for a film that takes itself that serious, it just felt ridiculous to me. The movie tries to justify itself and sell some pseudo-philosophical afterlife martyrdom pretentious bullshit as the reason why these atrocities are committed by these high class white people. It’s hollow, it’s meaningless, it’s tedious, it’s totally lame. Martyrs lacks so much substance that it’s a ghost film and a home invasion before it becomes a torture porn. Its script seems more suited for a short film.
The good things about this film? The hallucination that is tormenting Lucie is creepy, especially the way it moves and all the acting is pretty convincing. Aaand that’s about it.
I’ve seen a lot of people saying they won’t be watching Martyrs ever again for it being shocking, depressing, gruesome and etc. I’m not watching it again as well, but for a different reason, it’s just bad. I don’t really get how this film is so high praised.