Laura’s Rating: 2/5 Stars
mother! is a psychological horror starring Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem. The film is somewhat controversial and according to director Darren Aronofsky, meant to be difficult to view.
The Analysis:
After a brief scene of a house transforming from ashen to beautiful, the movie opens with Jennifer Lawrence’s character waking up in bed. She is the wife of Javier Barden’s character, who appears older than her. They are both unnamed. Barden’s character is a writer, experiencing a bout of writer’s block. Lawrence’s character acts as his muse and obedient wife, working constantly to renovate their beautiful country home. One day, a man shows up at the house, mistaking it for a boarding house. Barden’s character invites him in despite an apprehensive Lawrence. The man becomes ill and the next day, his wife arrives unannounced, making herself comfortable. Lawrence’s character begins seeing strange occurrences around the house and feels increasingly uncomfortable with the couple’s presence.
I can’t really recommend this movie to anyone. It is unsettling, confusing, and eventually violent. There are few people that would enjoy this film outright, and I only appreciated parts of it upon further analysis and reflection. One thing I found interesting was that there is heavy use of religious allegory in the film, yet I don’t think most religious people would watch it. There is a very niche audience that would both understand all the references and continue watching despite uncomfortable and graphic scenes. In my opinion, a viewer would have to read about the film and further analyze its content after watching. After reading, I admit that I was fascinated with some of the concepts, but one could argue that the movie should stand on its own without a requirement of extra research.
Overall, I don’t recommend this movie unless you have a palate for violence, heavy allegory, and film analysis. Yet I appreciated the incredibly original idea behind the film and found it intensely thought provoking, hence the couple of stars mother! earned in my book.
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