mother!

The first time I sat down and saw the trailer for mother! I became curious as to what spectacle Darren Aronofsky would be presenting this time. The controversial director behind Noah, Requiem for a Dream, and Black Swan has aroused conversation after conversation as to what should and should not be allowed in film. His aggressive style has earned him a spot in Hollywood as well as respect in the mouths of many critics; I myself have crowned him "King of Fucked Up Dramas". His style is not in shock value so much as it is in psychological and emotional twists that stick with you when you are done watching his films. That being said and even though I have praised Aronofsky's past films over and over, I find it hard to announce that mother! is the first movie in his filmography to disrupt my view of him. 

mother! is a psychological horror film that is supposed to serve as an allegory to the Holy Bible, with verbatim dialogue from Biblical passages. The story starts off with an inside look at the lives of the two main stars of the film: Jennifer Lawrence as Mother and Javier Bardem as Him. Mother is a kind hearted woman who loves her husband with all her heart, meanwhile Him is a mysterious and off-setting writer who has been struggling with his works. 

Him's inner turmoil also upsets the balance of the house. Mother starts to see things that should not be there, such as a beating heart within the walls of the house. Each time I saw the beating heart, it became a bit more smoldered as if it were burned, until it was nothing but ash. Most of these odd encounters may have had a huge significance according to theme, but in the grand scale in terms of plot the beating heart, the yellow powder Mother chugged down when she was feeling ill, or even the small, bloody hole in the floor that kept reappearing even after being cleaned up were never fully used aside from a side note.

With the appearance of a strange Man (Ed Harris) at the door, along with a friendly invitation by Him to enter the house, the Man takes refuge within the house. He takes particular notice of Him's glass sculpture that resembles a heart, and wants to touch it. Him refuses. 

After being woken by a coughing fit from the Man and with Him helping, Mother sees that the Man has a flesh wound where a rib should be. It's shortly after that that Mother sees a strange, bloody creature in the toilet. In easier explanation, this was supposed to be the birth of Eve as the Biblical character was created through one of Adam's ribs. And, alas, the bloody toilet creature was Eve as the Man's wife titled Woman (Michelle Pfeiffer) appeared the very next day. 

They decide to take refuge in the house together, and even after breaking Him's glass heart does he not refuse them a place to stay. This is where Mother's character comes to be extremely frustrating and almost unlikable. Not only does she fail to kick these strangers out of her house, but she fails to confront her husband about it. Soon enough, Man and Wife's sons Oldest Son and Younger Brother (played by real life brothers Domhnall and Brian Gleeson) appear. Within five minutes they beat the shit out of each other and one of them dies. Classic Cain and Abel. 

Him, Man, and Wife take care of their dead son, and wind up back in the house with Him and their entire family who are completely disrespectful to Mother. Again, she is powerless to do anything and cannot confront Him about it. After an argument occurs whence she kicks Man, Wife, and everyone else out of the house, they have make-up sex and Mother becomes pregnant. Him manages to finish his book and is soon hailed as a prophet, with many people coming to see Him. 

As Him's followers arrive, each room becomes more and more chaotic with rituals, executions, a tear down of the house, and police arriving to help out Mother. It was absolute chaos and made little to no sense in terms of story. But Mother is about to have the baby, so Him takes her to a private room where she gives birth. Him wants to show the baby to the crowd, but Mother has finally - only once all this shit has happened - had enough and says she wants the people gone. Him refuses, and she refuses to give the baby to Him. 

Once Mother falls asleep, Him takes the baby and give it to his followers, who then break the baby's neck and devour its flesh. Angered by this, Mother takes a piece of glass and begins to stab at and murder the followers. They brutally beat and strip her, but Him saves her saying they need to find a way to forgive them. Mother decides enough is enough and goes to the basement. She sets the house on fire.

Everything is burned and dead in the fire's wake aside from Him and Mother, although Mother is badly burned. she is still alive. She gives the last of her love to Him which manifest in the shape of another glass heart inside her own heart, and he places it on the same mantle as the previous one. The house is restored to its former glory, and a new Mother is born. 

The story is convoluted and sometimes shocking and in your face, but it is also so bizarre that it is hard to follow. I can sit and enjoy a film with underlying themes and chaos, but Aronofsky did not pull this off in the right way. mother! was a chore to get through with a boring first half and a nonsensical second half. 

I will give credit where credit is due, however. The actors all did a fine job as it were; Bardem is always a cynical bastard to watch on screen, Michelle Pfeiffer played one hell of a bitch, and Jennifer Lawrence did her best at acting as a pitiful and powerless pregnant woman. But, again, scripting and story set this way off the rails. 

mother! is simply an unenjoyable film whose Biblical allegory could have paid off if it wasn't so far off the mark. I can guarantee this will be a film that people will praise as, "So fucked up that you have to watch it," but half of those people only want to rewatch it for the fucked up scenes. I cannot and will not recommend this film to anyone. You're better off watching Aronofsky Noah, another film of his based on Biblical passages. At least that was Lord of the Rings meets the Holy Bible - I am up for that any day of the week.