Martyrs (2008)

A young woman's quest for revenge against the people who kidnapped and tormented her as a child leads her and a friend, who is also a victim of child abuse, on a terrifying journey into a living hell of depravity.

Director:

Pascal Laugier

Writer:

Pascal Laugier

Stars:

Morjana Alaoui, Mylène Jampanoï, Catherine Bégin

7 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Morjana Alaoui	...	Anna
Mylène Jampanoï	...	Lucie
Catherine Bégin	...	Mademoiselle
Robert Toupin	...	Le père
Patricia Tulasne	...	La mère
Juliette Gosselin	...	Marie
Xavier Dolan	...	Antoine (as Xavier Dolan-Tadros)
Louise Boisvert	...	Mère d'Anna (voice)
Jean-Marie Moncelet	...	Étienne
Jessie Pham	...	Lucie 10 ans
Erika Scott	...	Anna 10 ans
Isabelle Chasse	...	La créature
Emilie Miskdjian	...	La suppliciée
Tony Robinow	...	Docteur
Anie Pascale	...	La femme bourreau

Storyline

Fifteen years after a horrifying experience of abduction and prolonged torture, Lucie embarks on a bloody quest for revenge against her oppressors. Along with her childhood friend, Anna, who also suffered abuse, she quickly descends, without hope, into madness and her own delusions. Anna, left on her own begins to re-experience what Lucie did when she was only twelve years old.

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Plot Keywords:

survivor guilt | friendship between women | revenge | torture | graphic violence | 

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Taglines:

They did not finish to be alive...

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Genres:

Horror

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for disturbing/severe aberrant behavior involving strong bloody violence, torture, child abuse and some nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [France]

Country:

France Canada

Language:

French

Release Date:

3 September 2008 (France)

Also Known As:

Mártires

Filming Locations:

Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$6,500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Canal Horizons, Canal+, CinéCinéma

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Pascal Laugier has stated he was inspired by Hostel (2005) but instead of making a movie about suffering he wanted to make a movie about pain.

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Goofs

As the mother is kicked into the pit, a body flinches to brace itself for the impact of the mother falling on him.

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Quotes

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.

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Connections

Referenced in Martyrs: Chroniques organiques (2009)

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Soundtracks

Your Witness
by Sepukku Paradigm

User Reviews

Tedious , boring , unsympathetic , repulsive

Before I watched Martyrs , I was in an extremely good mood . I finished Cemetery Man and pick this movie , praised highly but I approached with prejudice as IMDb reviewers had let me down before(No Country for old men) . And they did it again .

The movie left me disappointed and mad to the point I registered on IMDb just to write this review . Truly this movie was worthy of its praises ! The movie starts off good , with average amount of horror , blood and action . It was exciting and the rescue of a *tortured survivor* was a nice touch . It was good seeing Anna , the MC care for the survivor but things went FUBAR . The survivor dies , the 2nd MC dies . After that , everything is predictable . You'll know what happens to MC but what you won't know is how tedious the movie gets .

2nd half kicks in and you'll be treated with torture scenes . Not violent , I watched Hostel and Cannibal Holoucast . Martyrs aren't that violent . But these scenes are long-winded , repetitive , they become tedious and boring . Suddenly you felt , what's the point ? Just stop ! Certain quarters believe that all this is to instil hope , by the viewer , towards the MC(anna) . Yet the MC was unsympathetic , little background and backstory . She was just another teen trapped in horror movie .

Quantity over quality , equals large dropped in entertainment and good amount of boringness . The torture scenes shouldn't have been that long , time should be allocated for more character development .

Repulsive ? Because the movie simply glorifies torture . Torture will free you , give you the sight of afterlife . The messages are obvious in the torture scenes . I'm not a masochist , so the scenes simply becomes repulsive . I fast forwaded the slapping and punching scenes , but never did that in Cannibal Holoucast because they didn't glorify torture in terms of religion and spiritual .

At the end , the ending was left ambiguous . The film had a weak story , it's basically women tortured by group consist of elites so that the women reached a point of insanity and see a vision of afterlife . The blame falls on the writer..yes ? Not , not if you provide an ambiguous ending . Viewers will have to form an interpretation , and thus the blame shifts to the viewers , dividing the audience into 2 . Those who dislike simply because they saw the core of this hollow trash . Those who like it because the ambiguous plot becomes a cotton wool that blinds their judgment .

Indubitably , the ambiguity was a nice touch but when you see past that , the movie was terrible and disappointing . The high ratings of this movie unveils more masks , showing how viewers are easily swayed by ambiguous plot . Or is it because of the glorified torture ? coming from a movie said to be of *new era* *highly philosophical* *disturbing* ... Utterly repulsive . What has our society become ?