Synopsis
Released in 2017, Mother! is a psychological horror film and allegorical thriller directed by Darren Aronofsky. The film symbolizes and visually explores the concepts of creation and destruction, obsession and religion, environmental degradation, and the exploitation of women. Mother! is daring and divisive, standing out as one of the most provocative and controversial movies of the decade.
A couple lives in a vast countryside house that is undergoing restoration. The woman, called Mother and portrayed by Jennifer Lawrence, is a devoted wife rebuilding the house that burned down, and her husband, simply called Him and played by Javier Bardem, is a famous, yet blocked poet. Mother works a lot to better their home and life, but Him is cold and emotionally distant.
Their life is quiet until an unexpected visitor arrives. Mother’s unease is dismissed as Him warmly invites the stranger, Man, to stay. Man’s wife, Woman, later arrives and her demeanor feels like an intrusion. The couple poses an energetic, albeit intrusive, source of chaos as they disturb the boundaries of Mother and her home.
Things get even worse when the couple’s two sons arrive and begin fighting, leading to the death of one son. This explosion of violence is the first crisis of the much deeper chaos that has been brewing domestically. As the house fills with visitors, including those grieving for the son, Mother becomes more anxious and more alienated.
Eventually, Mother has a completed pregnancy and Him has a renewed zeal to write. His new work fuels immense public interest, drawing streams of adoring fans to their house. Admiration shifts to obsession. The house becomes a frenzied battleground filled with riotous violence and rampant destruction. Mother, in her later stages of pregnancy, helplessly observes the transformation of her home from a sanctuary to a cult headquarters for Him, whom they worship as a God.
While the mother enjoys a brief moment of calm after childbirth, she desperately begs Him to protect their baby boy. Instead, he offers the child to his followers who ritualistically kill and eat the baby in a grotesque communion. This grotesque act shatters the mother’s sanity. Grief and rage consume her, and she burns the house to the ground, killing nearly everyone inside.
Amidst the ashes, Him finds Mother and asks her for love. In exchange for love, she allows him to take her heart. She then proceeds to recreate the house which allows Him to start the cycle anew, this time with a different “Mother.” This time the film closes with the exact same shot as the opening, and it hints to an unbroken cycle of creation and destruction.
Cast & Crew
Mother
For the role, Lawrence put in both physically and emotionally intensive work, which we see in her near-constant screen time as she portrays an increasingly tense snapshot of a mother who is fragile, confused, furious, and heartbroken.
Javier Bardem as Him
As the self-centered poet, Bardem embodies the role with an oddly serene self-possession. His character’s psychological oscillations between affection and cruelty capture the dual nature of creation, which is both nurturing and consuming.
Michelle Pfeiffer as Woman
Pfeiffer’s portrayal is simultaneously seductive and dangerously invasive. Her performance is compelling and unsettling as it portrays temptation, while also serving as judgment.
Ed Harris as Man
Harris’s character brings the first external disruption to the household, and while he is polite, he is also quite enigmatic. This blend of character is courteous but carries with it some enigmatic qualities which hint at broader allegorical meanings associated with faith, mortality, and sin.
Domhnall Gleeson and Brian Gleeson as the Sons
Their violent confrontation is a clear reference to the Cain and Abel story. The violent clash destroys any semblance of peace and harmony, setting the stage for the ensuing chaos.
Director & Writer: Darren Aronofsky
Aronofsky is known for his films, such as ‘Requiem for a Dream’, ‘Black Swan’, and ‘The Fountain’, which often carry an intense and controversial flair. ‘Mother’ serves as the most abstract and metaphorical of his works, and, as with his others, it carries a blend of religious, environmental, and philosophical allegories fused into a surreal, nightmarish experience.
Cinematography: Matthew Libatique
The visual style is discomforting and unsettling. Shooting in an almost first-person style, the camera stays with Mother, looking over her shoulder or capturing her face in close-up. This enhances the pervasive feeling of dread.
Music and Sound: Jóhann Jóhannsson
Sounds like squeaking doors, heartbeats, and distorted voices take the place of a traditional score, drawing tension and anxiety, and focus the viewer’s imagination. Consequently, the atmosphere is worsened.
IMDb Ratings and Critical Reception
With a rating of 6.6, the movie is one of the most polarized films in the world. While some stamped the film a masterpiece, others dissociated with the plot, stating said plot is open to interpretation and is worth of offense.
Critics, too, were split. The film received a standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival, then received a wave of theatrics at other showings. For the most, praise zeroed in on the movie’s ambition, Lawrence’s bold portrayal, and unrelenting take from Aronofsky. For the rest, the film was called out for being painfully symbolic.
Some people saw the film as symbolism for the destruction of the environment, with Mother symbolizing Earth and Him as a God-like figure who endlessly consumes and takes from her in order to worship Him and receive followers. Others viewed the film as a critique of feminine feminism depicting the expectations of women serving the ego of men, often to their own peril.
Another perspective is the film as a metaphor for the parable of the artistic process. Aronofsky himself confessed that parts of the film were autobiographical, mentioning that it was about the burden that creativity and fame takes on relationships. Him’s unending appetite for worship is akin to the way artists devour their muses, and Mother’s perpetual torment epitomizes the price of artistic success.
Cinematic Legacy and Cultural Today
Even with the cinematic divide in opinion, Mother! and everything in it marked a new era of innovation in film. Fueled by the film’s overwhelming attention, the metaphor within it and the lack of obvious reasoning, it became a staple of discussion for students of film. Inspired countless essays, videos, and think pieces, the film was, and still is, an enigma that scholars, and even casual watchers, aim to decode.
Jennifer Lawrence would go on to explain how the role’s emotional weight, coupled with the film’s reception, was a turning point in her career. For Aronofsky, Mother ! embodies most of his obsessions: human suffering, the spiritual human condition, and the cycles of destruction and creation.
She connects the visceral depiction of apocalypse and redemption to existential fears of the public: climate change, religious extremism, gender roles, and even the culture of fame. It captures the emotional disorder of contemporary life, illustrating how the personal and the political, along with ecological trauma, is entangled.
While it may not have performed commercially, the film’s place within the canon of boldness remains unquestionable. Like 2001: A Space Odyssey or Mulholland Drive, Mother ! is not a film one is supposed to get easily. It’s a film one is supposed to feel, grapple with, and interpret.
Watch Free Movies on Onionplay