~ by Rebecca Fisher

In the dead of night two people drive to an undisclosed location. There they are given showers and new clothes before being blindfolded and driven to a nondescript basement where they’re promised something amazing is waiting for them.

It’s there that Maggie (Brit Marling) introduces herself. Shrouded in white and suffering from an unspecified illness, she claims she’s from the year 2054, having journeyed back in time from a post-apocalyptic future. Now she’s recruiting followers to prepare for the social upheaval that’s still to come.

As it happens, novices Peter and Lorna (Christopher Denham and Nicole Vicius) are investigative journalists accumulating information for a documentary on underground cults – and they’re out to expose Maggie as a fraud. At least at first.

Despite his initial scepticism, Peter finds himself drawn to Maggie’s charisma and conviction. This does not go unnoticed by Lorna, who begins to wonder whether he’s been duped into believing Maggie’s strange but compelling story. Things come to a head when Peter begins to seriously consider the request Maggie has made of him: to bring her a child from the elementary school where he teaches.

To do so would amount to kidnapping. But Maggie gives a compelling reason as to why she wants to meet this particular child, and by now Peter may be in too deep…

Maggie starts to break down Peter’s defences

As with Safety Not Guaranteed, the film introduces an outlandish premise only to ask: “is this for real?” though it’s ultimately less interested in the answer as it is in the characters’ response to the question. And like Another Earth, it’s not afraid to leave those questions unanswered, leaving the audience to ponder what it decides not to explain.

But whereas Another Earth had enough focus on the rules of the sci-fi premise to give the audience a fair shot at filling in the blanks with their own imagination, Sound of My Voice has a setup that is considerably vaguer, filled with contradictory exposition and scenes that are cut short before pertinent information is given.

So although it’s compelling and suspenseful, with a performance from Brit Marling that will keep you guessing as to Maggie’s true intentions, prepare yourself for an ambiguous final scene.

Ambiguity abounds…

Sound of My Voice is less of a science-fiction film than a psychological thriller, but I’ve squeezed it in due to the potential time-travelling element, and the subtle developments that suggest Maggie’s story just might have some veracity to it. It’s worth a watch for its intriguing premise and exploration into the cult of personality, an individual’s desperate desire to believe, and the unpredictable nature of those around you.
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Next Time: The Polar Bear King

The old Norwegian folktale East O’ The Sun and West O’ The Moon is ripe for adaptation, but oddly enough has very few filmic versions to its name. There is one exception: The Polar Bear King from 1991, which faithfully depicts the story of a young princess betrothed to a polar bear, and the witch who sets out to destroy their happiness.
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About The Reviewer:

Rebecca Fisher is a graduate of the University of Canterbury with a Masters degree in English Literature, mainly, she claims, because she was able to get away with writing her thesis on C.S. Lewis and Philip Pullman. She is a reviewer for FantasyLiterature.com, a large website that specializes in fantasy and science-fiction novels, as well as posting reviews to Amazon.com and her They’re All Fictional blog.

To read Rebecca’s detailed introduction of both herself and the series, as well as preceding reviews, click on:

Big Worlds On Small Screens