Mother!: A Divisive and Enthralling Roller Coaster Ride

Mother! is a bonkers experience that immerses you into a world that is loaded with obvious allegories and unexpected tonal changes. I did my best to stay away from the reviews and I’m really glad I saw it with fresh eyes. Mother! is an experience like none other and as the insanity unfolded it put a big smile on my face. Director/writer Darren Aronofsky crafted a religious/environmental/art allegory of a movie that never leaves Jennifer Lawrence’s face and thrives on sledgehammer tactics.

Mother! revolves around a husband (Javier Bardem) and wife (Jennifer Lawrence – crushing it) dealing with murder, riots, fame, flooding, renovation and terrible house-guests. Their tranquil country living existence is interrupted when a man (Ed Harris) stops by thinking their house is a bed and breakfast. Eventually his wife (Michelle Pfeiffer), children (Domhnall Gleeson) and friends show up, and then it starts getting weird. What starts as a quiet film becomes a wild ride that looks and feels like something totally original and earnest.

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I can see why audiences were confused by what unfolded in front of them in the theaters. Mother! was marketed as a horror film that featured Academy Award winning actors dealing with some sort of terror. However, the movie strays away from horror and plays like a roller coaster ride of paranoia, uncertainty and terrible visitors.  Aronofsky admitted that he wanted to make a divisive film and he succeeded on all fronts. I don’t see the movie as divisive because I was able to role with the allegories while spotting them fairly easily. I don’t want you thinking that I was only looking for metaphors, allegories and more allegories. I was 100% immersed in the experience, and when it finished I was disappointed that it was over. Very rarely have I had the pleasure of watching something as wildly ambitious as Mother!

Mother! is a rare film that feels totally fresh and auteur driven. It ain’t subtle, and I kinda loved that because it was purposefully turned to 11 to frustrate and confuse. Please watch Mother!. It is a bonkers experiment that makes for a unique experience.