MARTYRS II
In the Cold Cuts episode of Martyrs (2009), directed by Pascal Laugier, Takebacks comes hot out of the gates. Danny puts the screws to Pappy, strongly suggesting that he may want to walk back his thoughts on mercy killing the torture beast. While Pappy remains steadfast in his entirely humane treatment of a being completely torn asunder by years of trauma, Danny takes back his harsh criticism of the film. Well… sort of. There are certainly a few Lingering Feelings among the hosts: modern extreme cinema, religion, futility and trust have the guys divided. The only thing they can agree on? Never trust the rich, always trust your buddies.
Danny downloads the results of his research in Fact-Checking, sharing how the French censorship board tried to tank Martyrs. An interview with Morjana Alaoui, who played Anna, suggests that Martyrs is really about the violence of sadness, but… nah. There’s a brief pause where Danny surprises David and Pappy, revealing that he’s entered his two friends into a sweepstakes. The main prize? A signed copy of the 2015 Americanized version of Martrys. After a moment of celebration, the conversation naturally shifts to the 2015 version, and you can probably guess everyone’s reaction. Before speculating on what the ending of Martyrs could mean, David relays a few fan theories.
Things get heavy in Overthinking It as Pappy asks Danny and David to navigate the dark waters of trauma studies. Hot button topics include trauma existing outside of language, trauma shattering perceptions of reality and Lucy’s fidelity to the trauma beast. Finally, Pappy asks Danny and David to share the trauma beasts that haunt them.
In Next Week’s Movie, David and Pappy pick a film that everyone might regret. Not just Danny.
Timestamps
Takebacks
00:00:00—00:05:20: Everyone has thoughts on Pappy’s mercy kills
00:05:21—00:06:11: Danny walks back his harsh criticism of the movie a bit
Lingering Feelings
00:06:12—00:11:10: Martyrs & modern extreme cinema
00:11:11—00:21:35: Religion, futility and nihilism
00:21:36—00:25:48: Don’t trust the rich; trust your friends…
Fact-Checking
00:25:49—00:35:20: Martyrs, censorship boards and concentration camps
00:35:21—00:41:33: Anna thinks sadness is violence, but nah
00:41:34—00:43:37: Danny signed up David and Pappy for a sweepstakes
00:43:38—00:45:32: Martyrs (2015) is a massive cop-out
00:45:33—00:52:19: Fan fiction endings
00:52:20—00:59:39: David’s fan fiction ending
Overthinking It
00:59:40—01:07:40: Trauma exists outside of language, and Danny’s skeptical
01:07:41—01:12:45: Trauma shatters perceptions of reality
01:12:46—01:18:33: Torture beast as traumatic repetition
01:18:34—01:30:53: Maintaining fidelity to the torture beast
01:30:54—01:35:33: What are our torture beasts?
Next Week’s Movie
01:35:34—01:36:49: We might all regret this one