"Intense, disorienting, unsettling, upsetting, polarizing - Martyrs is all these things but it is also intelligent, moving and strangely uplifting. If you want to be put through the wringer by a film, make it this one." - Anton Bitel, Film4
Martyrs opens with a child named Lucie running away from a slaughterhouse where she was imprisoned and abused. She makes her way to an orphanage, where she befriends a girl named Anna. Flash forward 15 years, Lucie seeks her revenge on those who caused her harm in her dark past. Her plans, however, go awry and she is left to clean up the mess with absolutely no clue what she's in for.
French horror films are extremely intense due to different censorship standards. Director Pascal Laguier, once said that all the major studios in France rejected Martyrs due to its graphic content. Eventually it was picked up by a television channel that also finances films called Canal +.
Martyrs knows exactly how to get under your skin, make you queasy, and go way beyond any other horror film I've seen. Just when you think it can't get any worse, it does. This film is obviously not for a lot of people. It received a 18+ rating in its region, but the French Society of Film Directors believe it deserves to be re-examined by the French Ministry of Culture.
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