MARTYRS

Read Time: 3 minutes

Year of release: 2008
Run time: 1 hr. 39 mins. | Rated: R | Genre: Horror / Gore / Psychological | Language: French / English

“Two young women who were both victims of abuse as children embark on a bloody quest for revenge, only to find themselves plunged into a living hell of depravity.”

[ubasjuice reviews]

This is a French psychological-horror and is not your typical revenge film. Directed by Pascal Laugier, who also did “Ghostland (2018)” and “French Meat (2009)”.

Her every action is burdened by trauma/guilt, hoping to free herself from it’s grasp. This also reminded me of “Possum (2018)”, who also tackled the same subject. Trauma took on a form itself, and seemed like it acted on its own, it was very well done and unique. It added that supernatural feel to it, and gave the viewer a deeper understanding of it.

The first few scenes will remind you of Hostel, but the reason for these heinous acts are not for pleasure or enjoyment of the rich. They are in search of the truth of what comes after death, unfortunately the process must undergo trial and error, hence the numerous victims. The revenge act was pretty graphic, and the way they played it out throughout the story was brilliantly done. The so-called “process” undergoes a number of stages of humiliation, physical abuse and depravation, but that final trial though got me squirming, I wasn’t ready for it, I don’t think anyone will be. A quote from Mademoiselle: “Martyrs are exceptional people. They survive pain, they survive total deprivation. They bear all the sins of the earth. They give themselves up. They transcend themselves… they are transfigured.”
This quote seemed like a warning of what was to come. The “final trial” was skin crawling and got me very squeamish watching it. It involved skinning the victim with the hope that they survive the ordeal and achieve martyrdom.

Spoiler:
The ending was a bit of a head-scratcher and will be up to the viewer’s interpretation, but in my opinion, there were only two things that could’ve happened that triggered the ending. Either Anna told Mademoiselle that she saw and experienced paradise, and she hurried to get there so she killed herself; or she saw nothing, literally nothing, experienced nothing, and that made Mademoiselle feel like her life’s work was all a lie and ended her life then.

This isn’t for everyone, specially for those who’ve had traumatic experiences in the past, best to avoid this; but this is considered to be a masterpiece in French horror.