(4 / 5)
Nauseatingly good.
Yes, I literally felt ill when leaving the cinema. Too much empathetic anxiety. Director Darren Aronofsky really is the king of tragedy. He knows how to take an intense situation and turn it up to 11!
A young woman (Jennifer Lawrence) and her partner who is a published author (Javier Bardem) live in a big house in the country that she has been renovating. Apart from a severe case of writer’s block, things are fairly calm until he decides to allow an uninvited guest (Ed Harris) to stay in their home.
Casting Javier Bardem was a wise choice, not only for his incredible acting but also because of his sinister side which makes it hard to know whether you can trust his character. I’m not usually a fan of Jennifer Lawrence, but she certainly gave enough to the role that I could fully immerse myself into the story.
There are some parallels between Mother! and Aronofsky’s previous films. The chaotic brutality is reminiscent of Requiem For a Dream. It is also high on symbolism and metaphors in a similar way to The Fountain, except that this time the meaning isn’t nearly as obvious. The director has actually given a very interesting explanation for the meaning behind the film but i’d recommend watching it first and then looking up the meaning later. It’s like a post-viewing twist. This makes it a good candidate for at least one rewatch, in order to fully comprehend all the references.
The film seems to have a surprisingly low score currently on IMDB at 6.9/10, having already been released in the USA. I can see how it may not be to everyone’s taste, but it’s most definitely gripping and interesting – that means a whole lot in my book.
Mother! is released in Sweden on 29 September.