Marian
Background
Marian Rolf is a resident of New York City. She and Ben have been married for thirteen years and have a son named David. Marian had an aunt Mary who went entirely gray at 33 years old.
During the events of Burnt Offerings (1976) played by Karen Black
Ben, Marian and David drive to the house on 17 Shore Road and are shocked to see how large it is. They knock on the door a few times and eventually Walker answers the door and lets them in. He has them sit in the waiting room, while he gets Brother and Roz. David asks if he can play outside and Ben tells him to stay close to the area. Marian walks around the house and enters the greenery which is full of dead plants. Ben and Marian then look at a series of photographs of the same scene, the house, but at different periods of time. Roz comes downstairs and meets Marian and Ben and Roz is happy to hear they have a young son. Marian tells Roz that Aunt Elizabeth will also be staying with them and Roz asks if they will take the place from the 1st of July until Labor Day. When Ben is hesitant about being able to maintain upkeep of the house, Roz assures him the house takes care of itself. Roz helps Brother with the broken wheelchair lift and wheels him into the room. Roz tells Brother that Marian and Ben have a son and Brother asks to look at him through the window. He watches as David is playing and falls and hurts himself and when Ben offers to bring David inside, Brother insists David can stay and play outside. Roz and Brother then tell Marian and Ben that the house will still exist long after they are gone and that it is practically immortal. They then tell them that the only catch is that Roz and Brother's mother will stay in the house and they will need to make three meals for her a day. Ben, Marian and David go home to think about it and Ben has reservations about renting the house. Ben calls Roz and tells her they would like to rent the house and on July 1st, Ben, Marian, Aunt Elizabeth and David drive to the house. When they arrive, Roz and Brother have already left. Marian goes to look on the mother when she finds a locked door and a room upstairs filled with photos of people from different time periods. She knocks at the door, but no one answers it. Marian tells Ben and Elizabeth that the stairs up to the mother's room is out of bounds. Elizabeth comments that none of the clocks are working as they follow David into the kitchen. They find the kitchen and pantry filled with food and beverages, but the light doesn't work in the pantry. Ben cuts his thumb opening the champagne bottle and David goes into the pantry and the light turns on as he flips the switch. Marian goes upstairs and finds the food she left uneaten. Later, Marian notices that the food again hasn't been eaten. She again goes back to the room outside of mother's room and smiles at the half eaten food. She sits and listens to the music box in the room outside of mother's room and becomes entranced. Marian wakes up to find Ben out of bed and comforts him about what he did to David in the pool. Marian goes outside the next day and finds the fountain restored along with the pool. Elizabeth tells Marian and Ben that David has decided to take up painting and Ben and David awkwardly shake hands and hug. Later at night Marian finds Ben sitting outside of the pool. They jump into the pool and when Ben tries to have sex with Marian she resists after looking up at the house. The next morning, Ben notices Marian is wearing new clothes and she tells him she found them in a closet and when he asks where she was last night, she tells him she slept in a chair outside of the mother's room. Elizabeth comes downstairs and tells Marian she feels exhausted. Elizabeth notices her hair is turning gray again and sees that Marian's is starting to show gray too. When Elizabeth hears that David wants to go on a hike with her, she says she just wants to take a nap, and Marian tells her she should. Elizabeth brings one of her paintings up to the room outside of mother's room and finds Marian in mother's room. Marian tells her the Allardyce mother is sleeping and hurries Elizabeth away. The next day after David almost dies of carbon monoxide poisoning, Elizabeth tells Marian she had checked on David that night, but didn't turn the gas heater on. Marian starts to accuse Elizabeth of not remembering what she did, which upsets Elizabeth. Ben goes to find Marian and confronts her about accusing Elizabeth about lying. Ben sees the photos of various people and Marian calls it the mother's collection. Later, David is holding a large glass bowl and accidentally drops it when Marian walks into the room. Marian yells at David and then cries and holds pieces of the bowl against her cheek. Ben asks Marian if the house is more important than her family and mentions leaving the house early. David yells for Ben and Marian and tells them something is wrong with Elizabeth. Ben goes to make a call for a doctor and then returns to the room and tells Marian all of the numbers are busy including the operator. Marian goes to try the numbers and comes back and says she was able to make a call. Marian then goes upstairs to the room outside of mother's room and eats the food left for mother. Before anyone arrives, Elizabeth dies. Marian goes into the greenery and finds all of the plants vibrant and blooming. Ben and David go to Elizabeth's funeral and they return to the house and Ben angrily confronts Marian about not going to Elizabeth's funeral and showing no sorrow at her passing. He goes upstairs and demands to see the Allardyce mother and then tells Marian they are leaving. Marian tells him what they had was nothing and he tells her he and David are leaving the next day, with or without her. During the night, Ben tries to escape with David, but becomes catatonic and Marian drives him and David back to the house. Dr. Ross tells Marian that Ben will have to be brought to a hospital to get the treatment he needs, and Marian tells him she will take care of Ben. David asks if Ben is going to be okay and Marian tells him Dr. Ross said he just needed rest and then tells him, Ben will be better off staying at the house. The next day as David is swimming in the pool, the waves start to churn around him. Marian sees him and starts to run outside while Ben struggles to get onto his feet. Marian jumps into the pool and saves David and pulls him out of the pool. David says he wants to leave and Marian agrees to leave. They get into the car and as they are about to leave, Marian decides she needs to say something to the Allardyce mother. As Marian walks into the house, she notices the beauty of it again. Marian then goes upstairs into the Allardyce mother's room and is absorbed into the house.
