Written and Directed by: Darren Aronofsky
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris, Michelle Pfeiffer
Swift shot: I waited a long time to watch this movie, because I was a bit annoyed with Jennnifer Lawrence at the time. But, she has never failed to deliver a stellar performance. She is one of those rare stars that I can’t quit. Mother! just proves you can’t keep her buried for long. Not everyone appreciates movies like this, and maybe that is why it failed to earn any serious awards. Aronofsky is an acquired taste.
This is one of those movies that I saw right before I went to sleep, and it just kind of lingered with me even in my dreams and my early waking hours. I kept thinking of the message and the plight of the characters in a deeply profound way. I think that makes it a good film, even if the execution was a bit too artsy-fartsy for me in some places. But, that’s just Aronofsky’s way. He did the same risky thing with Black Swan.
Mother! is a spiritual suspense disguised as a psychological thriller. Immediately it’s clear these people, The Poet (Bardem) and his goddess (Lawrence) don’t exist in our world. They are on some plane of existence that yields the need for ever leaving the house. I kept waiting for someone to give them the “Handbook For the Recently Deceased.”
I don’t feel like I am giving anything away here, because these people never leave the house, and on the rare instances where you get a glimpse of their front yard, it’s obvious they aren’t running to the store to get groceries anytime soon. So, there is a supernatural element to their constructs.
The goddess is infatuated with the Poet. She spends her waking life simply worshiping his every thought and word. She only makes herself a presence in his life when it is convenient for him. But for some reason, the love feels unrequited. The Poet has recently lost a former lover, and the goddess feels like an inadequate replacement. This tragic loss culminated in a fire that burned down everything he loved, and since the fire, he has been unable to write or create.
Just as it seems he is warming up to his new goddess, a stranger appears at their door, an orthopedic surgeon played by Ed Harris. He never really gives his name, but at the end of the movie, you will understand who he is. He’s a man full of knowledge and stories, such compelling stories. It’s these stories that persuade the Poet to let him stay with them for awhile, and it appears that this new intellectual infusion is just what the doctor ordered for the Poet. An apple a day, as they say.
Almost immediately after the doctor shows up, he has his wife join him at the Poet’s house. His wife, played by Pfeiffer is the mother of two sons, and she delights in sniping at the goddess’ every misstep. She is an incredibly ungrateful guest. And when the goddess explains that there is one room that is off-limits when the Poet isn’t around, this mother keeps making an effort to get a glimpse of what makes it so special. It seems there is this incredible heart shaped jewel that is the prize possession of the Poet. A heart of glass, if you will. Destined to shatter, of course.
The introduction of these people into her happy paradise begins to unravel the goddess. At first it is just the pair, but soon the sons show up. Two quarreling brothers, fighting over money and their dad’s love. Sound familiar yet?
The adage that hell is other people gets a twist in Mother! as the message is clearly hell is people. People begin to just show up at the front door and disturb any kind of peace the goddess was enjoying. But while the introduction of these others starts to destroy the goddess, it reinvigorates the Poet. As the passion of these characters and their stories rubs off on him, he begins to create again.
With new creativity, there is an awakening and people intrude into the house in ways that rival Madhouse. They break shit. They urinate on the floor. They steal away time from the Poet, making his apathy toward the goddess grow. They really are just the worst people ever created. Eventually the goddess is going to snap. She’s only . . . human, right?
Plenty of violence, gore, and sexual energy to be had in this Darren Aronofsky tale, as one would expect. There are odd shots in the house that made me think there was some reason behind the disjointed nature of the goddess’ understanding of her surroundings, but that message was lost on me. It was like the story was being partitioned and fragmented just like the house.
If you have ever seen The Fountain, you know Aronofsky gets pretty trippy with his metaphysical metaphors juxtaposed to our real world. I really thought he shit the bed in The Fountain. It was boring, too long, made no sense, and it annoyed me.
With Mother! he used the same basic formula, but he delivered the story in a way that kept me engaged and I completely felt for the goddess. Many times I was saying, KICK THEM THE HELL OUT! I was super pissed at the Poet, and once I knew who these people were supposed to be, it was a stark reminder of the fragile celestial nature of knowledge and understanding and compassion.
But in the end, what we are left with is a horrible tragedy about the dangers of sharing too much of ourselves with ungrateful jerks. Honestly, I feel like this was a metaphor for what celebrities must deal with as they try to just live their lives and love their friends and family, but fans keep showing up out of nowhere to derail their quaint lives.
