Review of Sound of My Voice (2011) by Wildaly M — 25 Jun 2012

Anyone who saw the fabulous Martha Marcy May Marlene earlier this year will have some idea what to expect at the start of promising writer Brit Marling's latest. Blindfolds, hidden locations, secret handshakes - it's all there. And while Sound of My Voice adheres to those conventions for the main, it's the deviations that will make it possibly one of the most mulled over movies of the year.

Lovers Peter (Christopher Denham) and Lorna (Nicole Vicius) are investigative journalists who, having managed to infiltrate a group/cult run by the enigmatic 'Maggie' (Marling), begin to realise her claim that she's from the future is pulling them in separate ways. Is it real, and if not, how far will they go to disprove it?

If you're intrigued already then the 12-minute teaser (actually the film's opening) will no doubt hook you in before your brain's even though about registering the Kool-Aid. And while all the traditional 'cult' elements - so well developed and yet blurred in Martha - are here, the nagging sense that things aren't that black and white become apparent pretty early on.

Featuring plenty of unusual ways of testing her follower's loyalty (including a circle time scene involving plastic sheeting that will hang around in your mind for a good while afterwards) Marling's Maggie is an enigma; spouting either profound truths or drivel depending on your take, the mysteries of which fans of Lost and the like will no doubt lap up.

Which means the film owes a great debt to Marling's script and to the committed performances of the central trio that none of it disappears up a certain orifice. Presenting more questions than answers, often well-reasoned and thought out, it soon becomes clear that the one of the pair's scepticism may be fading while the other's resolve to prove she's fake strengthens. Sub plots involving a rather lonesome, perhaps abused child and Davenia McFadden's watchful authority character come together in the film's third act, resulting in an ending that may just rival Inception in terms of narrative beauty and frustrating ambiguity.

And yet Sound of My Voice is all the better for shrouding itself in layers of mystery; always happy to divulge teasing glimpses but never keen to reveal it's hand just yet. Marling herself has spoken of a possible trilogy, which given the way this lean, compelling film finishes is no real surprise. If you don't mind not having all the answers then you'd be well advised to join her. This is one voice that's well worth following.