Review of Sound of My Voice (2011) by Simon G — 30 Oct 2012

A young couple; school teacher and would be documentary filmmaker Peter (Denham) and stay-at-home writer Lorna (Vicius), infiltrate a cult with the aim of exposing it as a hoax. Once in however, the cult's leader, Maggie (Marling), who (as the film's title suggests) turns out to be a charismatic speaker with a mesmerising demeanour and an uncanny intuition regarding her fellow human beings. She also claims to be from 2054 and to hold the key to mankind's future survival in an upcoming civil war. As Peter and Lorna are drawn deeper in they start to question their preconceived notions of Maggie's claims.

Brit Marling, who co-wrote the screenplay with director Zal Batmanglij, imbues Maggie with a presence that is both captivating and menacing at the same time. Beautiful and articulate but overshadowed with a subtle cloud of sadness, Marling has given us a memorable character who is both complex and down-to-earth; wise beyond her years but also in search of answers herself.

The film is an exploration of control from both sides: how people are willing to believe the unbelievable in their search for something meaningful in their lives but also how enigmatic people are able to lure otherwise logical, rational minded people into these types of cults. There are subtle hints at these methods of control - or brainwashing, if we're to use the term we're really looking at here - in other places besides Maggie's obvious power over the cult (the mysterious Klaus, for example). Who really has power over whom and for what purpose.

At 85 minutes things are over rather suddenly with an ending that leaves us with a lot of questions but questions that can be more than likely be answered - or at least better understood - with repeat viewings. There's a lot in the way of subtext in Sound of My Voice and its definitely worth revisiting a few times to make more sense of this sometimes baffling but always brilliant low budget gem.