MovieChat Forums > Martyrs (2008) Discussion > My two cents (And a theory I haven't see...

My two cents (And a theory I haven't seen here yet.)

posted 9 years ago by landminan
8 replies | jump to latest

I have seen a lot of people claiming that Anna lied, to get revenge on her captors, but I don't see that as plausible at all, it would have to be a whopper of a convincing lie to speak to someone for an hour and basically saying, "there's nothing."I very much doubt that someone who has been tortured for who know how long, skinned alive, etc. would be coherent enough to even care anymore. Lucies ghost-voice tells her to let go, and that's exactly what she does. Lets go of everything, sanity, conciousness, etc. She retreats so far into her mind that she eventually "trancends." This has happened to real torture victims, they often talk about going to a place in their mind to hide, and many have gotten stuck there for a long time before regaining any semblance of conciousness.

And I have seen the theory that she told the Madam that the afterlife is wonderful, and she just can't wait to get there, so she waits until her cult is gathered before killing herself, something that probably took a few hours, seeing as the house is in the middle of nowhere. And then Madam is a giant bitch, so after gathering everyone, she just gives them the middle finger and says, "HA, SUCK IT BITCHES! I KNOW SOMETHING YOU DON'T KNOW! AND I'M TAKING IT TO MY GRAVE." Well that theory just doesn't sit right.

My theory is that Anna "trancended," saw the afterlife, and told Madam exactly what she saw. And I think it was so believable that it would be impossible to fake. Madam said she was crystal clear, which to me indicates that it was utterly convincing. But it wasn't an afterlife she expected. She can't even process what she's heard at first, and once she does, there's a man knocking on the door asking for answers. But she can't face the crowd with what she's just learned, and she can't lie to them either. She also can't live knowing that she's spent her life searching for an answer she really didn't want. She starts removing her makeup, because she wants to die as herself, what's the point of hiding. (And it reveals her motivation, as she does look deathly ill under the costume.) Then comes the question:

"Can you imagine what comes after death?"
"No. I..."
"Keep doubting..."

And then she shoots herself. I don't see this as sarcasm or nothing like that. I consider it a warning.

"You can't even imagine what I now know, and it's best for you if you never do."

At least that's my take on it, thought it was an ok movie overall, and unlike some other sub(machine)s here, I am very open to discussion and critisism, as long as you keep it civil of course. Now I'm gonna try to get my friends to watch it and see their take on the entire thing.

[–] carl_johnson-1 9 years ago

Yes, I'm with you on this. As I've said, for Madame, it's a case of "Be careful what you wish for". She wanted to know about the Afterlife, she finally found The Truth, and it ruined her.

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] carl_johnson-1 9 years ago

If what she was told about the afterlife by Anna ruined Madame or devastated her, why would she be in a hurry to get there?

She's in no hurry at all. She slowly walks out of the interrogation room. She lets Etienne call in the Cult members. She slowly removes her makeup. There's no hurry there. More like resignation.

She holds the terrible Truth that renders her life essentially unlivable. She knows there's no point in continuing on. But that doesn't mean she takes her gun out immediately and ends it. I think she spends a lot of her final moments reflecting on her life and works, the Truth as relayed by Anna, and those blissfully ignorant people around her.

One definition of "doubt" at dictionary.reference.com is "a feeling of uncertainty about the truth, reality, or nature of something." For Madame, she no longer has any doubt. The Truth has been revealed with unflinching and disastrous certainty. She does the merciful thing and tells no one, keeping the others doubting.

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] The_TJT 9 years ago

My theory is

Or maybe filmmakers just slapped a lazy story around mindless violence - and left the ending open so that silly people could search the meaning for a film which had none apart from cashing in on over the top violence. That's my theory.

IMDB boards have this amusing tendency for people to search meanings that are not there, explaining plotholes which can not be explained etc. People are giving too much credit for the filmmakers/writers.

Logically, "you don't wanna know" ending makes no sense since that would not make the cult leader hurry to that place.

So the writers got that wrong. As they did btw the film title "martyrs" - which means people who are killed for their own religious beliefs, not for religious beliefs of others.

No need to keep pretending that there was some deeper meaning to this film other than targeting the lowest common denominator.

[–] kurt7825 9 years ago

i agree

[–] carl_johnson-1 9 years ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martyr:

martyr (Greek: μάρτυς, mártys, "witness"; stem μάρτυρ-, mártyr-)

They were drawing attention to its root meaning.

[–] Chefeetaboopers 9 years ago

I think it's just nothing. Anna basically experienced a near death experience and thus had delusions; dreams and visions that she can only see and that are usually different than others. I had tons of Grand Mal Seizures and I experienced a few visions that looked like my family simply standing before me in a white room and, other than that, it was pure nothingness- I felt like I was in a dream, but I couldn't really move or speak or hear or see anything.

I think Anna told her dreams to the woman and the woman didn't like the answer and felt it was better not knowing and thus offed herself due to having no more meaning to live, using the "keep doubting" line as a means to make the people stop what they're doing to the girls and just give up on knowing the answer or else it will take away their hope, too.

People use beliefs and religion as a means to giving their lives meaning and hope. Having the answer basically ruined things for her and made her feel like there is no reason to live now.