One of the most controversial films of the year also remains one of the best.
For the majority of 2017, Darren Aronofsky’s mother! was one of the most anticipated films of the year, with everyone both curious and certain that the director of Requiem for a Dream and Black Swan had created a masterpiece that would top even his greatest achievements. Then the film came out, and audiences all over, be they hardcore cinephiles or average movie lovers, found themselves divided, if not collectively thrown for a loop. Since then there has proven to be no inbetween regarding a person’s feelings about mother!. For some, the film is either the work of a genius madman or a piece of celluloid garbage. Reaction, both negative and positive, was so strong, that the head of Paramount’s publicity department issued a lengthy statement defending the film against its detractors. The studio eventually capitalized on their wildly divisive film by issuing a new poster featuring a partially-disfigured image of star Jennifer Lawrence in the center with both critical raves and jeers printed at either side of her.
Publicly, Aronofsky has accepted the reaction to his film, saying it was always his intention to make a stark and upfront statement that would not soon be forgotten. Yet the film’s journey has been less than fair in many people’s eyes. Not only is the movie a box-office bomb, failing to even make back half its production budget, but mother! is currently being shut out from the awards consideration it so rightfully deserves. Even critics who praised the film initially have failed to put mother! forward for any major accolades, despite its worthiness in multiple categories. Why have people turned away from mother!? It could be the film’s biblical allegory, the barrage of uncomfortable sequences in the second half, the script’s highly abstract nature, or it could just be THAT scene. Talk to people who have seen mother!, and any one of them who says they got it, probably didn’t. There’s far too much going on within the film’s two hours for anyone to declare they have uncovered its true essence. Even after having watched mother! four times myself, I am still uncovering meaning after meaning within its shape shifting ideology.
Now comes the film’s debut on home video, and with it hopefully a second life full of appreciation for such a daring and unconventional piece of work. In lieu of a standard blu-ray review however, I thought I would highlight a handful of mother!’s many elements which work in an unorthodox tandem to create one of the most exhilarating films of the year. Before we get to that though, here is a brief rundown of the film’s plot…for those who still don’t know.
In mother!, a young wife (Lawrence) lives a tranquil existence with her poet husband (Javier Bardem). The two reside on a stretch of remote, yet idyllic countryside in a sprawling estate which the wife has rebuilt from the ground up following a devastating fire. When a strange doctor (Ed Harris) and his wife (Michelle Pfeiffer) turn up at the couple’s doorstep, their presence has a profound effect on the couple’s relationship, leading to a series of events which quickly spiral out of control.
The Technical Aspects
From a technical standpoint, mother! is one of the most ambitious and captivating films of the year. The movie contains literally only three camera angles (over Lawrence’s shoulder, a close-up of Lawrence’s face and Lawrence’s point of view), but the many intricate and creative shots Aronofsky scores among them is a true marvel with each movement of the camera adding copious amounts of tension. While mother! originally contained a score, the director opted for a lack of music fearing it would tell the audience how to feel. His instinct proved right and the journey the audience embarks on with Lawrence becomes all the more intimate and effective as a result. Meanwhile, the fact that mother! was shot on 16mm gives Matthew Libatique’s cinematography a dreamy earthiness and the set design, populated by earth tones, gives the film a look best described as uniquely vintage. This aids the house in the film which is painted as a sort of labyrinth full of winding staircases and room after room, all of which exist as their own world. Finally, the effects in the film, be they makeup (that shot of an unrecognizable Lawrence stuns), practical, (the robot baby) or CGI (the raging fire), are some of the strongest seen in film this year.
Michelle Pfeiffer’s Houseguest
Everyone in the film may be a composite of character traits, with no one role being fully fleshed out. Yet Michelle Pfeiffer’s work in mother! is so strong, that she actually manages to give a type of dimension to her role that none of the other actors can through subtle wickedness, quiet depth and great physicality. Making her way into the home of our heroine complete with sexy lingerie and a never ending amount of personal opinions, Pfeiffer’s intrusive houseguest is without question the film’s most stand-out element. While initially coming off as the story’s villain, invading Lawrence’s personal space by probing into her marital life, Pfeiffer actually turns out to be a protector of sorts. The scene in which she gives Lawrence one of her vodka-spiked lemonades is the only time anyone in the film does anything for her that’s not prompted and Pfeiffer’s curiosity about personal details comes with an underlying concern, almost as if she’s telling her hostess that she deserves better from her marriage than she’s getting. You get the sense that’s she’s a sort of older version of Lawrence herself, having battled the same struggles and insecurities from her own marriage and survived them. It’s because of this that when Pfeiffer leaves the film, the final look on her face is a mixture of both hostile resentment and genuine sorrow.
Aronofsky’s Contribution to Surrealist Cinema
mother! has been described as both a nightmare and a fever dream; two extremely fitting labels. So rarely has a film captured the spirit of what the dream state is like so perfectly. There’s little rhyme or reason within the world Aronofsky has created in mother!. One moment sees our heroine observe a character doing something in one part of house before stumbling upon that same person engaging in a different activity in another. The way the world swirls out of control around Lawrence, with reality slipping away from her grasp, echoes the trance that befalls anyone in the state of dreaming. It is a reality that is both recognizable and confounding all at the same time. Aronofsky channels the work of Spanish filmmaker Luis Bunel in his efforts, creating a world which is safe and familiar, but is soon discovered to be deceptive, unpredictable and savage. The director even manages to add a bit of absurdist comedy to the mix by placing Lawrence in the middle of scenes which play out with some great awkward hilarity. While much of mother! is a head trip, moments such as Lawrence watching a family saga unfold as if she weren’t even in the room and being asked to speak at the wake of a deceased man she didn’t even know, offer some unexpected dark comic relief.
A Portrait of the Artist
Aronofsky doesn’t hide the suggestion in mother! that his artist character represents God. The film’s opening and closing moments alone, as well as his reactions to an incident involving Pfeiffer and Harris, all point to this. The director’s use of Bardem’s poet as the vessel with which to explore this is used at every possible turn. While Bardem’s character does indeed love Lawrence, he cannot shake his narcissistic nature, taking her for granted by letting their guests stay and invite friends without taking her feelings into consideration. When the outside world bestows adoration upon him, Bardem simply drags his nervous wife along for the ride, only casually acknowledging her presence, let alone her needs. The moment when he turns on Lawrence, which is prompted by her refusal to submit to him, the two become instant adversaries with the latter determined to win. Some may see the character as Aronofsky criticizing the nature of the creative personality while maybe atoning for it as well. Near the end of the film, when Lawrence’s character apologizes to her husband for not being enough for him, he gently tells her: “It’s not your fault. Nothing is ever enough. We couldn’t create if it was.”
The Fear that Comes with Love
In the rush to pick apart at its biblical and environmental subtexts, it’s easy to miss the notion that mother! deals a lot with the fear and anxiety which comes with being in love. While Lawrence and Bardem’s characters are clearly enamored with each other, it’s obvious that because of their differences in age, it is her who is more taken with the state of love than he is. We see this in Lawrence’s never ending efforts to give her husband the best life possible, catering to his every whim in the process. When he barely notices as a result of being distracted by writer’s block, she turns up her efforts even more, out of a worry that he if she doesn’t, there will be nothing compelling him to stay with her. The pain in Lawrence’s face is obvious when she sees how taken Bardem is with the arrival of Harris, even commenting on how wonderful it is to have someone around who appreciates his work. When Bardem becomes a success and fandom finds him, Lawrence’s descent into madness goes into full gear as she tries to hold onto her husband, afraid the fans and the glory will be worth loving more than she is.
There’s no Such Thing as a Paradise
“I want to make a paradise,” Lawrence’s character states on more than one occasion in mother!, referring to the glorious house the film takes place in and her on-going efforts to restore it from the devastating fire which destroyed it. Her goal of a paradise is clear; what Lawrence wants is not just a wondrous country estate, but a haven with which to exist in with her husband that is full of peace, tranquility and as little interaction with society as possible. Not only do Pfeiffer and Harris threaten Lawrence’s plan, but the manic-ness of mother!’s second half all but guarantees it will never come to be. Aronofsky takes the majority of 21st century society’s problems and puts them smack dab in front of Lawrence. Everything from crime and poverty, to police brutality and overzealous admirers is represented in mother! with its main character crouching in horror while fearlessly trying to hold onto her husband and her sanity. Besides forcing his audience to face the society they themselves have helped to shape, Aronofsky is showing how in today’s world, there is no such thing as a paradise. The outside world is all around, as are the horrors within it and their ability to reach us, no matter how hard we try to hide from them.
There are still many different theories and meanings within Aronofsky’s film that will ensure its survival and legacy. mother! will doubtless be taught in film courses in the future with young cinephiles uncovering new symbols and ideas within each captivating shot. Personally I knew I would like mother! when I heard its director describe the inspiration behind it as an impassioned, rage-filled cry with regards to what current society has done to itself and to the environment. Maybe that accounts for some audience members’ rejection of the film and its function as both a criticism and indictment of the very people who turned up to see it. Even if this is true, so rarely has a director’s own worldview affected him and his work so profoundly as it has here. mother! may have ended up a financial bomb in 2017, but its future as one of the most telling, intelligent, creative and socially-conscious films of all time, is sealed.
The Package
Two featurettes accompany the blu-ray release of mother! The first is a look at the effective makeup aspects of the film, while the second follows Aronofsky, Lawrence and other members of the cast and crew during the rehearsal and shooting process, with each offering up their own takes on the project.
The Lowdown
The epitome of “love it or hate it,” mother! is nonetheless an unforgettable piece of cinema.
mother! is available on Blu-ray and DVD this week from Paramount Home Entertainment.
