Comments on: Blitzkrieg Martha Marcy May Marlene Explanation

By: John Lennon

John Lennon — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 10:59:44 +0000

I could think she offered her family to the cult but not in a premeditated way. She feels the disapointment of Patrick as somethingbreally painful and when she has an argument during diner with her bro in law and she says Im a teacher and a Leader thats is the strongest validation she had in 2 years and months, so when she says that is the breakpoint and inflection point and the moment she drags her sister to the mouth of the wolf. Yes they can track the call when they call back and the bill comes at the end of the month but l dont know if that goes ok with the chrnology of the movie. Theory like 5 years after the review

By: Sheryl

Sheryl — Sat, 26 Dec 2020 05:08:19 +0000

[TLDR @ bottom] I like all the theories, but I will lean towards 2. When MMMM answers the phone at the cult house, the rules (literally written on the wall, “ask 3 questions, repeat name, take message”) remind the women to answer as Marlene Lewis, and the guys as Michael Lewis. Further confirmed when MMMM calls from her sister’s house, the woman who answers at the cult house says her name is Marlene Lewis. I bring this point up only because we notice the bartender introduces himself as Mike, which I believe resulted in her belief the bartender is a cult plant to spy on her, or steal her, or murder her family, something along these lines.

I believe she does want to get better, and seeks change throughout the movie, but proves the difficulty in changing anything when you still feel like you’re running and hiding. She is aware the cult reprogrammed her thinking, so when she feels attacked (Ted yells at her at dinner, the bartender, Lucy yells at her at the end, etc.) she literally tries fights back, even if it’s just verbally. But her desire to escape the reprogramming is further proven when she kicks Ted down the stairs when she gets confused by her own distorted perception of where and when she is, and who is around her. It takes us back to the beginning when she first ran and hid from the cult.

We also know the premise of the cult’s criminal activities is to break in homes at night, not jump people on the road in daylight. In the last fight with her sister the night before she’s being taken to a facility, she says “I know” when Lucy tells her she needs help. I do believe at the very end, in the car, there is an internal struggle. Her fear is palpable, but mingled with the recognition she needs help, and following on your second theory, she simply doesn’t speak up because she feels she could be paranoid, that whether the man in the road is real or not, he is not part of the cult.

I think she’s afraid, but also resigned that if it is the cult, there is no getting away, and if it isn’t the cult, well, she’ll be getting professional help soon enough. Her weakness is to not speak up; to be complacent, or go with the flow. The only times she spoke up about her fears through the entire movie, she was assaulted in the bathroom by Patrick, or given drugs by Lucy and Ted. She has no control, and the end makes that clear. She is the literal and figurative passenger in the vehicle and in her life, proven by her fear of driving the boat for even a few seconds. Just because she hasn’t learned to be the driver doesn’t mean the fear isn’t ever-present. I think the ending leaves us hope that she can learn to be the driver of her own life, and learn to speak up. Or perhaps, shows us that she is too damaged, too far gone, after being the passenger in life through abandonment, when her parents died, her sister left, and she was raised by her aunt, who she believes hates her. The passenger through true abuse at the cult house, but she needed the connection Patrick spoke of to get in the bathroom…

Ultimately, her morals drive her to be aware of what is wrong, driving her to leave shortly after the murder, but morals cannot eliminate the damage, or break through the reprogramming of a cult. She wants help, she wants a better life, but she doesn’t know what it is or how to get it, so she remains the passenger in the back seat at the end. Alone in her fear, her uncertainty, her paranoia. When you’re drowning, you don’t know who’s hands reach down to grab you, you just know that you have to reach back and cling on. She is drowning throughout the film, and by the end, she’s simply accepted she may not survive, whether the cult member on the road is real or not, she only knows that “death is life.” She says nothing because she’s hoping it isn’t the cult just her faulty perception.

TLDR: Mostly theory 2, she knows she needs help, so she stays quiet, guilt fully aware her perception may be confusing her, but she is still afraid. Also, she knows if it’s theory 1 (cult is after her) there isn’t a damn thing her or Lucy and Ted can do to stop it. Either way, she is the passenger, a drowning victim who cannot scream for help, simply accept whatever fate has in store for her. But that doesn’t erase the fear.

By: Taylor Holmes

Taylor Holmes — Fri, 20 Nov 2020 02:25:28 +0000

In reply to TK.

Thanks. Fixing it presently. Much appreciated.
Have I mentioned lately how bad I am with names?
Fred
I mean Taylor.

By: TK

TK — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 05:59:01 +0000

The cult leader’s name was Patrick, not Kevin.

By: Rachel Zee

Rachel Zee — Thu, 03 Sep 2020 18:43:03 +0000

I believe the story to be a revenge fantasy much like Midsommar. Instead of focusing on the details like phone connections and actors, consider her feelings of abandonment and betrayal and imagine how she’d like to see them play out on her sisters perceived perfect life.

By: Wolf Venable

Wolf Venable — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 00:38:42 +0000

In reply to Taylor Holmes. Actually "Chris Hemsworth" guy isn't on the same side of the lake. He's on the opposite side of the lake from the Sister and Brother in Laws house.

By: PK

PK — Tue, 16 Jun 2020 16:21:21 +0000

Yes! Thanks for your very plausible ending that resurrects this film from the dead for me. The cult couldn’t trace the number to an address easily but by returning the call (we hear the phone mysteriously ring at one stage) they could have influenced her into re-joining the cult. We thought she was going to commit suicide in the lake but the next thing you know she shows passive acceptance to being sent off to be committed which seems implausible. Hatching a plan to kill her sister and husband and steal all that distasteful wealth would have explained her peaceful mood in the car. So her expression in the last frames was more of anticipation than of fear and illustrate that she has truly descended back into the cult’s madness.

By: Alfa

Alfa — Thu, 09 Apr 2020 18:07:34 +0000

She had made that telephone call and after she had hung up, the phone rang which she disconnected by pulling the cord. Nonetheless the cult traced her wareabouts.
I only hope she will get screwed and her sister and bro in law survives.

By: Faith

Faith — Mon, 31 Dec 2018 05:30:46 +0000

Just watched this movie after finding you via a search for The Lobster ending.
I love thought provoking movies and 4M was deeply creepy. I think-

-M fled in fear, no intent to trap or hurt her sister- after all she didn’t even know her sister was married, right?
-the cult let her go very easily so I think they followed her from the beginning-
esp after the girls were “reported” to creepy leader for talking
-the black SUV was used by the cult in other scenes
-she had to be okay with the cult tracking her down and once found she has to re- join them or be killed
-she was upset that her sister “rejected her and sent her away- so no screaming to warn them in the car but they wouldn’t have believed her anyway.
-she gave up any hope of being saved from them