MARTYRS I
In the Hot Takes episode of Pascal Laugier’s Martyrs (2009), Danny, David and Pappy start with a quick and expedient two-minute Plot Summary. Twenty-six minutes and five seconds later, they’re all done. When the conversation shifts to How Did It Make You Feel? Danny is surprised by how the repetitive violence loses its impact over the course of the film. You can hear it in his voice: Martyrs didn’t affect him nearly as much as he feared it would. When the subject shifts to friendship, everyone agrees they’d bathe each other to help wash away years of traumatic experience.
Who Would You Be? begins with Danny nominating himself as the young “butthole” daughter who gets murdered in cold blood while trying to flee her house. Pappy is picked to be murderous Lucy who’s hellbent on revenge, and David is Anna for obvious reasons. Themes is full of basement and torture beasts as well as consideration of the film’s representation of trauma. It seems reasonable that the discussion would lighten up when the fellas talk about sound design. However, Danny, David and Pappy hone on the sounds of meaty fists delivering repeated blows upon Anna’s face.
In How Did It Make You Feel?, Danny can’t let go of the “fat-fisted Frenchman,” who lays down quite the beating on Anna. His obsession segues into a more detailed conversation about the effect of the film’s prolonged sequences of torture/abuse. The musical stylings of Seppuku Paradigm are considered before the fellas jump into a rousing thought experiment, questioning whether or not you should “merk” the torture beast. It’s two-to-one, as Pappy makes a compelling case for mercy killing it.
As the episode hits the home stretch, Danny, David, and Pappy turn their attention On the Ending. How to successfully become a martyr, Anna’s two-hour secret with Mademoiselle and the effectiveness of the ending are all on the table. Finally, in Art or Not Art?, everyone learns it’s a relative question when discussing extreme movies.
Timestamps
Character Sketch & Plot Summary
00:00:00—00:26:05: A quick two-minute synopsis
How Did It Make You Feel?
00:26:06—00:33:37: Repetitive violence loses its punch (to the face)
00:33:38—00:37:55: Danny processes his experience
00:37:56—00:42:48: Friendship is bathing your traumatized buddy
Who Would You Be?
00:42:49—00:45:04: Danny is the butthole kid
00:45:05—00:48:32: Pappy is 150% Lucy, and David is Anna
Themes
00:48:33—00:51:28: The nature of the torture beast
00:51:29—00:55:58: Sound designed to hell
How Did It Make You Feel? II
00:55:59—00:56:41: The Fat-Fisted Frenchman and other cast members
00:56:42—00:58:59: Prolonged abuse or torture?
00:59:00—01:00:27: Music by Seppuku Paradigm
01:00:28—01:09:15: "You gotta murk it.” Pappy on mercy killing the torture beast
On the Ending
01:09:16—01:13:22: How to become a martyr
01:13:23—01:15:32: Mademoiselle learns Anna’s secret
01:15:33—01:21:17: Do we like the ending?
Art or Not Art?
01:21:18—01:24:23: It’s a relative question…