When an attractive blonde lady informs you that she is from 2054 and has answers about the future, it’s tough not to take heed of her words. That is exactly what the followers of Newport-smoking prophet Maggie do in Sound of My Voice. Brit Marling (Sundance darling of Another Earth) stars as the leader of a cult that gathers in the basement of some suburban home, decked out in all white. In order to gain entrance into this exclusive club, a member must do a silly, patty-cake like playground handshake with a white-haired man, presumably a senior member of the cult.
The story begins with Peter and Lorna, two investigative journalists, (played by Christopher Denham & Nicole Vicius) gaining entrance into the cult to expose Maggie and her followers to the world. The backstory on the documentarians is pretty compelling, with Lorna having had a troubled celebrity lifestyle before meeting idealistic Peter. As they get deeper into the cult and are forced to participate in some of the ritual practices, Lorna begins to question whether Peter’s allegiance is to the expose project or Maggie.
This film presents itself as being a lot more intelligent and thrilling than what it turns out to be. It sequences moment after tense moment leading up to what one would expect to be a jaw-dropping ending, but just sort of quietly tapers off. That’s not to say it isn’t fun to watch it develop to that point. Director Zal Batmanglij (brother of Vampire Weekend member Rostam, who scored the film) does a nice job of creating atmospheric tension, the whiteness of the basement feeling bleak and enveloping. He co-wrote the film with star Marling, whom he had begun working with while they both attended Georgetown University.
“Zal’s an incredible director, incredible filmmaker,” Marling said in a recent chat with North by Northwestern. He undeniably has a penchant for aesthetics and their relation to emotion, particularly color, which plays a prominent role in the film. The whole movie looks like it was soaked with teabags, kind of like a tastefully done flipbook from Instagram. “Everything has a very deliberate color palette,” Marling said.
Marling’s performance sells this movie. After studying the methodology of various real cult leaders, she concocts this character that incites love and fear in her subjects, emotions that coexist so as to bind the members to the cult. It’s chilling to listen to her calmly persuade her followers to reveal their darkest secrets to her, particularly in an amazing scene in which Peter tells her a tale of his past sexual abuse. Maggie possesses all the important elements of a successful cult leader. She is attractive, brilliant and so frighteningly kind. So when Peter begins to succumb to her influence, the audience most certainly begins to question whether or not we should as well.
Sound of My Voice presents a thought-provoking concept. It doesn’t focus so much on whether or not Maggie is a manipulative liar, but rather on the fact that people can choose whatever they want to believe. Cults, including religions, have never been predicated on evidential proof. As Peter and Lorna, the detectives, seek answers from Maggie, all they discover is that everything they believe in is based on choice. That is a lofty idea in itself, one which is fascinating to consider, but this movie thinly veils it with a thriller plot that doesn’t really go anywhere. It's a nice thought, but the payoff isn't worth the effort.