by Melissa Strong

A Streetcar Named Desire is a hotbed of deception, full of characters lying to one another and to themselves. Viewers may feel deceived too as they piece together the story of the indelible Blanche DuBois and her relationships with her sister Stella and the men in her life. Streetcar is a masterwork of American drama and an important movie that continues to resonate in the twenty-first century. Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011) is a case in point: this well-received drama/thriller reinterprets characters and rehashes situations right out of Streetcar. Wait, what? Before we go there, let us first examine Streetcar’s lies.