  |
This article's content is marked as Mature Anna Assaoui contains mature content that may include coarse language, sexual references, and/or graphic violent images which may be disturbing to some. Mature articles are recommended for those who are 18 years of age and older. If you are 18 years or older or are comfortable with graphic material, you are free to view this page. Otherwise, you should close this page and view another page. |
Anna Assaoui is the main protagonist of the 2008 French horror film Martyrs.
She was portrayed by Morjana Alaoui.
Biography[]
In 1971, young Lucie Jurin escapes from a disused slaughterhouse where she has been imprisoned and tortured for more than a year. She is placed in an orphanage, where she befriends Anna Assaoui, who quickly discovers that Lucie believes she is being tormented by the vision of a disfigured woman.
Fifteen years later, Lucie bursts into the home of an apparently normal family, the Belfonds — Gabrielle, her husband, and their two teenage children — and kills them with a shotgun. Anna arrives and is horrified by the carnage but ultimately decides to help Lucie clean up. Anna later discovers that the mother is alive and tries to help her escape, but Lucie catches them and beats Gabrielle to death with a hammer. Lucie is again attacked by the demonic woman, but Anna only sees Lucie hurting herself; it is implied that the woman is the psychological manifestation of her guilt for leaving behind another girl who was also tortured with her as a child. In despair, Lucie commits suicide. Anna mourns her death and cleanses her friend's body.
The next day, Anna, while on the phone with her estranged abusive mother, discovers a secret passageway in the living room, leading to a underground chamber. Imprisoned in it is a horrifically brutalised and emaciated woman, proving Lucie was right about the Belfonds. Anna helps the woman out and attempts to clean her, but she later finds her mutilating her own arm with a knife. A group of people arrive at the house, kill the woman, and capture Anna. The group's leader, identified only as Mademoiselle, explains that they belong to a secret society seeking to discover the secrets of the afterlife through the creation of a "martyr". They do this by capturing young women and inflicting on them systematic acts of torture, in the belief that their suffering will result in a transcendental insight into the world beyond. So far, the group have mostly produced "victims" who succumbed to the pain, like Lucie and the woman Anna found, but are determined to create martyrs who accept their suffering.
Anna becomes the group's latest subject and has her pants removed. After a period of being brutally beaten and degraded in her underwear, she is told that she has progressed further than any other test subject and reached the "final stage". She is skinned alive, a procedure that she survives, and enters an "ecstatic" state. Mademoiselle arrives eagerly and Anna whispers into her ear. Members of the society then gather at the house to hear the groundbreaking testimony. While waiting for Mademoiselle, an assistant asks her from outside her door if what Anna said was clear. She unequivocally confirms and asks him in turn if he can imagine what comes after death. After he says no, Mademoiselle abruptly produces a handgun, tells him to "keep doubting", and kills herself.
An intertitle explains that "martyr" is Greek for "witness" and the film ends with a shot of Anna lying catatonic on a table.
Personality[]
Anna is a selfless, compassionate and kind-hearted girl, who cares deeply about her best friend (and love interest) Lucie.
Gallery[]
