Darren Aronofsky's latest opus mother! has made some of the "Worst Dressed Lists" out there this past week. It received a Cinemascore rating of 'F' (but really, do we care what Middle America rates something as complex as mother! or other F-scoring films like Solaris (an F? Really?) or William Friedkin's Bug (a great, nasty little story about drug addiction and paranoia)? Remember, Cinemascore gave Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon an 'A' rating. Citizen Kane material, right there.
Although I don't want to give away spoilers (I won't), mother! is, on the surface anyway, about a husband and wife (Javier Bardem and Jennifer Lawrence) living in a sprawling, remote house in the country. He is a writer and she has spent ages refurbishing the farmhouse to an artisan sheen, worthy of being photographed for interior design magazines.
Their idyll is interrupted by a visiting stranger (Ed Harris) who is a fan of Bardem's writing and who ensconces himself into their home. Harris is followed by his blousy wife the next day (a sharp Michelle Pfeiffer), and soon after, their two belligerent sons.
Tragedy strikes one of these interloper characters, which spirals into a cycle of potential sinister guest upon guest entering the home uninvited and "setting up shop" so to speak.
I could continue describing plot points but I walked into the movie unaware of its contents and it made for a better experience.
I found mother! to be a gripping chamber play for the first two-thirds of the film. It had strong traces of Rosemary's Baby and The Amityville Horror (hidden rooms, strange "neighbors" stopping by, unsettling changes in environment), but much less straightforward.
I won't reveal any further plot points but just say that the movie addresses themes of men's attempts to control and exploit women for their own gain, environmental destruction of the Earth for selfish goals, and the modern disease of fame and fortune at any cost. That's just for starters.
Aronofsky says there are strong biblical references in mother! to events and stories from the Bible (didn't hear about this til after seeing the movie). I find this biblical claim runs the gamut from strong to flimsy. I can even see mother! as a take on the 2016 election. Bardem as Trump and Lawrence as Hilary in a sick "marriage," where he will destroy her at any cost, by any means possible, in order to win and feed his insatiable hunger for attention and fame.
Now, that's a horror movie of epic proportions.
