This week we went to see Mother, an unusual film, in that we went in pretty much not knowing anything about it, thanks to a clever trailer campaign, which had enough to get you intrigued, yet not give anything away.
From writer/director Darren Aronofsky, who has given us the confusing with Hugh Jackman film The Fountain; The excellent Black Swan starring Natalie Portman and the disappointing Noah starring Russell Crowe, we either expected to like or hate this film.
The film begins with a great fire and then shows life rebuild after it, by the placing of a large crystal by Him (Javier Bardem) on a shelf within a house which we see rebuild in seeming a field in the middle of nowhere.
A woman known as Mother (Jennifer Lawrence) wakes up and looking for her husband, Him who is an acclaimed poet yet now suffers severe writers block.
Most of the day he tends to lock himself away, whilst Mother redecorates their new home. The quiet lifestyle appears to be taking its toll on her with no interaction with anyone else other than Him, who spends most of his time locked away. This results in her seeing visions, such as a beating heart within the wall and getting stomach pains, which she gets over by drinking a mysterious yellow substance.
This quiet life is disrupted when a mysterious Man (Ed Harris) arrives at their door, seemingly he has been told the home is a B&B, which makes sense to Him, as being the only house in the middle of nowhere, it does seem plausible. Him lefts Man stay and this increases Mother’s anxiety, especially when he does little things like smoke indoors.
Soon Man is joined by his wife, Woman (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Him agrees for her to stay too, she constantly interferes with the routine of Mother, increasing her anxiety. Woman seems to not care for anything in the home, making drinks and leaving bottles and ingredients all over the place, ignoring requests of Mother to not enter Him’s private room that he writes in and just getting constantly drunk!
This comes to a climax when Man and Woman do enter Hims’ room and smash the crystal. This results in Him going into a rage and telling them to leave. However as they are about to do so, their 2 children (Domhnall and Brian Gleeson) arrive and are in an argument, which results in a fight and older brother being stabbed. This changes everything and Him rushes them to the hospital, where the son ultimately dies.
Him returns home alone, with Mother thinking all will now resume back to normal but moments later Man and Woman return with 100’s of guests, as Him has agreed they can hold the wake at the house. The guests get out of control pushing Mother to the limits, until she screams that she is pregnant!
Again all leave as this has inspired him to write and his next piece is incredible, and now 1000’s arrive, all wanting a piece of Him, and see the baby.
And quite frankly the rest you have to see to believe, the ending will have you shocked and lost for words, the trouble is it would appear may leave before as this is a film that does not seem to have much middle ground. I have seen it called a masterpiece and a steaming pile of dog do!
Many have turned to the internet to decipher the meaning of the film feeling it is a metaphor for intrusion on celebrity to what seems more likely that Mother is in fact Mother Earth and the intruders invading and disrespecting her are what we are doing to Planet Earth. You will have to see and draw your own conclusions.
In a world of no brainer blockbusters, this is something different and well worth a visit but be prepared you may like it or you may hate it, and the ending will leave you lost for words.
Whatever your opinion of the film, there can be no question on the performances of Bardem; Pfeiffer and Harris but especially Lawrence, which will help against some of her critics who felt she was ‘Phoning it in’ on the last X-Men film. Also the film is made even more dramatic by lack of score and the way it looks is outstanding.
You can visit the website here to see the trailer and learn more about Mother!
Buy or Rent Mother from Amazon here:
Never miss a BMAF blog. Receive email notifications when new posts are published by entering your email address in the subscription box on the top right-hand side of this page.
You can also like us on Facebook for more film news and content www.facebook.com/barkingmadaboutfilms/