Martha Marcy May Marlene

As the tongue-twister of a title might suggest, this is a film that raises questions about identity and belonging. It also raises questions about the effects of experience on our perceptions.

Martha is a young woman who has recently left a cult led by the charismatic Patrick (John Hawkes) where she was renamed Marcy May. Now staying with her sister and her husband (Sarah Paulson and Hugh Dancy) at their lake house, she struggles to adapt to 'normality' and what is expected of her.

Relative newcomer Sean Durkin, acting as writer and director, has produced a challenging, but subtly engaging film. The structure switches between Martha at the lakehouse and her surfacing memories of life in the cult, drawing both links and contrasts and leading the audience to deduce the reasons for her behaviour which starts a little out of the ordinary - going swimming without a costume - and becomes gradually more unhinged. Much is left suggested rather than spelt out and Martha remains throughout rather silent on her experiences, whilst some details are foregrounded, others are glimpsed in the back of shots, like a chair propped against a door.

Durkin also marshalls some strong performances. Hawkes is superb as Patrick combining a real charisma with a menacingly sinister edge - watch out for the moment when he gives shooting lessons. The secret weapon here though is a mesmerisingly human and vulnerable performance by an Olsen sister (and that's not a sentence I thought I'd ever be typing). Elizabeth Olsen (younger sister or Mary-Kate and Ashley) is simply brilliant in portraying the traumatised young woman.

Its's never comfortable viewing and it has a deeply ambiguous ending that will divide and frustrate the audience, but it will get you thinking and/or talking.

Overall - 8/10 Challenging and thought0provoking cinema, often beautifully put together and wonderfully acted.