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| Indiewire |
mother! is about a couple that lives in a remote house in the middle of nowhere, with mother (Jennifer Lawrence) taking care of renovations and her husband only known as Him (Javier Bardem), a world famous poet, trying to overcome his writer’s block. There’s obvious tension between the two but they love each other and appreciate the little Eden they’re creating, though unbeknownst to mother, things are about to get crazy. First comes a man (Ed Harris), who Him allows to stay despite never meeting him, and then the man’s wife (Michelle Pfeiffer) arrives the next day. They are intrusive, weird, and just a little too curious, and once they do something Him has asked them not to, everything begins to go nuts. And our poor mother is left to witness the downfall of her household and the destruction of her world.
I really can’t say too much more about the specific plot beats, but let’s just get the generic praises of the movie out of the way. Darren Aronofsky is a great filmmaker, and he uses claustrophobia-inducing techniques such as extreme close-ups, over the shoulder shots while following mother, and a startling lack of wide shots to great effect. You are trapped in this house with mother and you definitely feel it. The sound design also helps to make you feel mother’s pain and (eventually) the pain of others that enter the home. Every crunch, smack, bullet and explosion (yes, those happen) hits you hard, sometimes to disturbing effect. The performances are also great, particularly Jennifer Lawrence, and they even include some surprise people that made me briefly smile as I figured out who they were. That smiling did not last long, however.
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| Favrim.com
But here are cat and dog friends to make YOU smile!
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This movie is not for everyone, for two reasons. The first is easy to tell you about, and that’s that this film is very dark, very brutal and very relentless. The first half is a buildup of tension and discomfort, but once things finally hit the fan it is a nonstop ride until the very end. And I don’t mean ride in a fun way either. There’s a lot of violence, a lot of evil acts and some disturbing imagery that will probably get to even the hardest of people. One sequence in particular is perhaps the most disturbing thing I’ve seen on screen in years, which says quite a bit. If you don’t want to be hit with just a long train of depression, anger and violence conducted by a man who clearly hates humanity, I would not recommend this at all.
The second reason is much more complicated because I have to go into some details to explain why. This movie is a giant metaphor (or metaphors) for… something. The characters are not real people in any way, they don’t exist in our world, even their giant house doesn’t have a driveway! The marketing sets it up to be a home invasion film crossed with Rosemary’s Baby and maybe even a little bit of a siege, but put that all out of your head right now. Also put out of your mind the idea that you’re going to get the answer to this movie explained to you in plain terms, because oh boy that is not Aronofsky’s intention here at all. There’s plenty of visual clues and little bits here and there in the dialogue, but you are not going to find out anything unless you have an idea of what it’s about going into it, which is a huge detriment to the film.
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| Birth.Movies.Death
"Pray for Jennifer Lawrence's house."
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Some people might not like knowing anything, but I’m just going to lay out the popular theories right now and lead into my criticisms. Perhaps the most obvious metaphor here is that it’s the Bible from the perspective of the Earth. Aronofsky is a big environmentalist and has tied this into Biblical themes before, but unlike Noah (which had a positive, humanity-affirming ending), this is not kind to humanity at all. The film is a recreation of certain Biblical stories, but there’s no light or warmth or hope, there’s only a reminder that humans can be ravenous, evil creatures. There are also metaphors about the trials of being with an artist, fandom and fan culture, the creative process, domestic violence, misogyny in culture, and there are probably even more that I wasn’t able to pick up. And this is a big problem, the only one I really have with this movie.
Metaphor-driven movies are similar to parody movies only in one respect: the best ones have to have a solid story when stripped of the context (either of the metaphor or the joke). That’s why Airplane is so great, because it is a solid disaster movie without the comedy, and the comedy on top of it is very funny and adds to the foundation. On the drama side, The Babadook is a solid horror movie on its own even before they add on the layer of metaphor about depression and grief. mother! is not one of those films, and if you don’t latch on to a theory or idea about what the movie is about, you aren’t going to get anything out of it. What story is there devolves into oppressive noise and relentlessly brutal violence, and that is just not acceptable for a film that is trying to be so high-minded and introspective. I felt at times like Aronofsky was channeling a mixture of Terrence Malick and Lars Von Trier, just throwing a lot of pretty, evocative imagery over a message that on its base level reads "Wow, people sure do suck."
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Amazon
Is it a surprise, coming from the guy who made this?
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Despite my criticisms I did enjoy this film quite a bit. I did like what he was trying to say and I admire the ambition and craftsmanship of it, but I am not kidding when I say that you are either going to love it or hate it. A lot of audiences do hate it and I cannot blame them one bit. I may joke some times about audiences being dumb but the movies, for a lot of people, are a place to go and escape from the problems of the real world. mother! is not one of those movies. It challenges you and demands that you figure out what it means, and while many people don't like that, I really do. As a writer I study movies like this and think about what they mean and dissect how they were made, but not everyone is like me. I do think it's worth checking out if only to experience it, but I want anyone who reads this to seriously consider the warnings before they spend the ten bucks on the ticket.
mother! is a big, bold, disgusting, challenging and haunting film, unlike anything I have personally seen before. I’m not sure what Paramount was thinking giving Aronofsky as much money as they did, but honestly I am glad they did it. Movies like this do need to be made and seen by people, because for its faults it’s very ambitious and challenging and deserving of a watch. However, I would feel very dishonest if I didn't let people know what awaits them. One reviewer said that this film is “the most ambitious studio release since Stanley Kubrick died,” and I cannot agree more because this reminds me a lot of Kubrick's films, many of which were also challenging and not for mainstream audiences. Think about what I’ve said and see it at your own peril, but if you're even slightly curious, go out and see it right away. Just don't @ me if you don't like it!
My Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
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