Martha... Martha (2001)
Directed by Sandrine Veysset

Film Review

With Martha… Martha…, a haunting, intensely melancholic portrait of a family scarred by personal crises, Sandrine Veysset confirms her standing as one of the most significant film directors of her generation.  In the course of three films, beginning with her acclaimed 1996 work, Y aura-t-il de la neige à Noël?, Veysset has developed a very individual style which combines harsh social realism with dark poetry, a style which allows her to tackle social themes with great conviction and humanity.  Martha… Martha is possibly her most accomplished film to date; it is certainly her bleakest, most emotionally engaging work so far.

Mental illness is a subject which is rarely portrayed in cinema, and seldom with the realism and pathos that it merits.  Martha…Martha shows us a young woman who experiences a complete psychological collapse, which was presumably triggered by a series of personal tragedies (these are alluded to in the film but not shown directly).  The destructive effect of mental illness is illustrated not just in the way that the character of Martha is drawn, but also - and more significantly - by the way it is born by her nearest and dearest - her loving husband Reymond and daughter Lise.  In spite of the fact that Martha is behaving increasingly irrationally and selfishly, neither Reymond nor Lise can give her up, and the intensity of their compassion for her is the thing which makes the film so devastatingly poignant.

Whilst the film excels in many departments - the sombre cinematography and careful, minimalist scripting to name just two - its power lies in the exceptional contributions from its three lead actors.  Playing the tormented Martha, Valérie Donzelli conveys the trauma of depression and violent mood swings with a conviction that makes her character simultaneously disturbing and tragically moving - yet she remains strangely distant (like the ghost-like figure she becomes at the end of the film).  Yann Goven plays the film's most sympathetic character, Martha's husband, whose very evident love allows him to patiently endure the crisis he finds himself thrown into.  As the eight-year old Lise, Lucie Régnier practically steals the film, her fragility and vulnerability underscoring the destructive nature of her mother's condition, yet she also exudes a naive compassion that renders her relationship with her mother all the more poignant.  The performances of these three actors are so naturalistic, so believable, that it is sometimes easy to mistake this piece of film drama for a documentary.  Particularly memorable is the heart-rending sequence in which Lise and Reymond pass Christmas together, with the mother of the family noticeably - and painfully - absent.

In an era when families are often presented in a negative light, it is a welcome change to see the family unit portrayed with such tenderness and sincerity, albeit within the context of a harrowing drama.  A few surreal touches (notably the bizarre Grim Reaper sequence) add to the film's bleak poetry whilst helping to convey the frame of mind of its protagonists.  In her work as a director, Sandrine Veysset shows herself to be not just a talented artist but also an effective witness to our increasingly fragmented and troubled society.

Film Synopsis

Martha is a vulnerable young woman who, after a traumatic childhood, now finds calm and contentment with her husband Reymond and their little girl, Lise.  Settled though she is, Martha is still troubled by her childhood recollections, in particular her parents' obvious preference for her sister Marie.  It has been some years since Martha and Marie have seen one another, and after meeting up in Spain they end up getting into a fierce argument.  On her return to her home in France, Martha appears greatly disturbed by the encounter.

The young woman's state of mind deteriorates further over the days that follow, as the painful recriminations of childhood come flooding back to her.  On impulse, she walks away from her family and goes on a mad drinking binge in town.  This irrational act of rebellion ends with her being brutally raped.  With his wife recovering in a psychiatric clinic, Reymond is left to tend to Lise by himself, which makes it hard for him to continue with his day job.  Even when Martha returns home, apparently cured of her condition, the family's ordeal is far from over...