Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011) is the debut feature film of American director Sean Durkin, one of the most distinctive voices in recent North American independent cinema. The film, masterfully performed by Elizabeth Olsen in her debut, won an award at the Sundance Film Festival and was lauded by critics for its subtle and unsettling direction. With an austere aesthetic and a measured pace, Durkin constructs a narrative that delves into the realm of psychological fragility and the search for self-identity.

The story follows Martha, a young woman who manages to escape from a cult community in the New York mountains and seeks refuge at her sister Lucy's house. As she tries to readjust to daily life, memories of her time in the cult —where she was known as Marcy May— return with force, blurring with reality until she loses her sense of the present. The film precisely alternates scenes from the past and present, creating a hall of mirrors between two incompatible lives: that of submission and that of freedom.
 

Martha Marcy May Marlene is an intense psychological drama about the power of emotional manipulation and the difficulty of rebuilding oneself after trauma. Through a fragmented narrative and an oppressive atmosphere, the film explores how fear, guilt, and the need for belonging can blur the boundaries of the self. More than a story about a cult, it is a reflection on the fragility of identity and how the invisible wounds of the past continue to shape our view of the world.

Time: from 5:30 PM to 9 PM

Place: Teatre Ateneu (carrer Indústria, 38-40)

Organized by: Vespres Literaris de Cerdanyola del Vallès Cultural Association with the support of the Cerdanyola City Council