A Reel Review: MOTHER!

Darren Aronofsky has always been one of those filmmakers unafraid to challenge his audience; not just because his storytelling can be vague and his characters walking the line of sanity, but because he tends to make things really uncomfortable to watch. With MOTHER!, he quickly establishes a comfort zone for his main character, disrupts it, and then amps up the uneasiness to the point where all we can do is squirm.

Mother (Jennifer Lawrence) and her husband Him (Javier Bardem) are living together in an isolated house. While Mother works to restore their home, Him, a former famous poet, struggles to find any creativity. They are visited by Man (Ed Harris) and his wife Woman (Michelle Pfeiffer), who exhibit bizarre behavior. Seeking to spark his creativity, Him invites the new couple to stay with them, much to the dismay of Mother.

The early goings of MOTHER! does fine work in establishing the comfort zone of our main character played by Jennifer Lawrence (no names are given in the film). She is shy and timid, and loves her husband to the point where she has given her entire life to Him. She labors on the house to the point where she has a spiritual connection to it, even to the point where she has visions of the house’s beating heart.

Once the new couple arrives, Mother the character is immediately put into a tough spot. She wants her loving husband to recapture his lost creativity, but at the same time is very uncomfortable with the new couple stomping around her beloved house, breaking drinking glasses, and (god forbid), smoking cigarettes. One tragic event leads to another, and that uncomfortableness that Mother is feeling (which does reach the audience as well) escalates bit by bit. Some shocking and revolting things happen, and Mother gets put into situations which are very hard to watch.

Darren Aronofsky, ever the poet himself, doesn’t quite want his audience to turn away completely, so there is a mystery going on at the same time that is too good to close our eyes to. There are questions to be answered such as the role of the mysterious couple, if Him really loves his wife, and what secrets the house actually holds; not to mention the characters’ names. There is an air of creepiness going on, and Aronofsky goes into some places that other directors would never even write down.

While the uncomfortableness, creepiness, and scares get amped up to turbo mode, Aronofsky is also putting together a dark, yet beautiful looking film. The house itself has a personality to the point where it’s a character in the film, and lets us explore every nook of it. Aronofsky also brings in themes of the dangers of celebrity, and uses some clever Biblical metaphors in subtle doses. There is so much going on in the film that it demands a second viewing.

Acting is superb. Jennifer Lawrence gives a career-best performance; going through all sorts of horror and grief and doubt, and when things really get nuts we really feel for the character. Javier Bardem is also great, as is Ed Harris. Michelle Pfeiffer shows that she can still be beautiful and dangerous on screen, and the film also has a few other surprise cameos which are handled beautifully.

The horror of the third and final act is a glorious bloody affair, and all the metaphors that Aronofsky had been playing with comes together nicely, topped off with one of the most heartbreaking lines of dialogue ever written. There still may be questions lingering by the time the credits roll, but it’s clear that MOTHER! itself is one large metaphor for something bigger, and nothing in the film should be taken literally. With this film, audiences will either stagger out of the theatre in awe or in a state of shock, having met or failed the challenge thrown down by one of our most talented and visionary filmmakers.

BOTTOM LINE: See it