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Mother! is a 2017 drama/horror film about a couple’s relationship being tested when uninvited guests arrive at their home, disrupting their tranquil existence.
Directed by Darren Aronofsky, Mother! stars Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem as a couple who are busy fixing up their home after a fire. Well she is fixing the house while he tries to write a new poem. Their tranquil life is disrupted when a stranger played by Ed Harris knocks on their door. Later they are joined by Michelle Pfeiffer and soon things get very strange.
It reminds me of a really good book where you’re not sure of the outcome, but you are still interested to see where it leads to. I had no idea where this was heading, but I was on board the whole way. I could not take my eyes off the screen. I don’t want to spoil what happens because that will ruin the movie, and yet I feel that many will be annoyed at what happens when they do watch it. It’s difficult to say what your views will be. So I will say that it does go very insane and if you are into stories that go a little crazy than you may enjoy this. It surprised me at times, it upset me others. One moment I’m clapping for joy and the next I am very disturbed. Let’s just say that for a mainstream film, Mother! goes places the recent It movie would never dream to. The only other movie I could compare it to from Darren Aronofsky‘s filmography is to say this –the last hour of Mother! feels a lot like the Sara Goldfarb’s fever dream in Requiem for a Dream. Just without the fast cuts and split screens.
That’s not to say the movie doesn’t have flaws because it does. While I liked Harris and Pfeiffer’s characters in this, I felt like it doesn’t spend enough time explaining their actions on why they are at this house. Plus there were a few moments where Jennifer’s character could have taken some action at the beginning to end things and she didn’t. I also found it odd that the movie focuses many times on Jennifer Lawrence’s face and her reactions other than just show us what’s happening. Don’t get me wrong I love watching her face because she is very beautiful but I wanted to see more of the craziness that was on screen.
Aronofsky never makes the same movie twice and that is what I love most about seeing his films. The Fountain is very different from Requiem for a Dream. The Wrestler is different from Black Swan. Mother! will not appeal to a lot of people, and yet I feel that in a few years it will be reexamined very much like The Fountain was. It’s best to go into this one blind and discover for yourself.