I debated with myself back and forth about whether I should see the film mother! Darren Aronofsky is very hit or miss with me (I liked Black Swan and couldn't stop thinking about it for days but I thought Requiem for a Dream was one of the worst films I've ever seen) and the polarizing reviews did little to help me make up my mind. Ultimately, I decided to see it Saturday afternoon and, now that I have, I honestly don't know what to make of it. I appreciate the message about destroying Mother Earth that Aronofsky is practically hitting the audience over the head with and the Biblical allegories about creation are quite brilliant but many of the images on the screen upset me deeply. The first two-thirds of the film are about a writer (Javier Bardem) and his wife (Jennifer Lawrence) who live in a house, which they have rebuilt after a devastating fire, in a remote and isolated area. A man (Ed Harris), thinking that their house is a bed and breakfast, arrives and is invited to stay by the writer despite his wife's objections. Next, a woman (Michelle Pfeiffer) arrives and completely takes over the house, even trying to see a room which is forbidden and breaking a priceless artifact. Soon, their sons arrive (Brian and Domhnall Gleeson) and, arguing over an inheritance, one kills the other. More and more people come to the house and begin destroying it until the wife demands that the writer force everyone to leave. The references to the Garden of Eden are obvious and, despite my extreme frustration at the wife's subservience and powerlessness, it worked for me as a taut and intense psychological thriller. The close-up camera shots which track Lawrence's character from room to room as she becomes increasingly more desperate create a tension which just keeps building and building. Pfeiffer gives one of her best performances to date, dominating each scene she appears in. In my opinion, the film should have ended there but it doesn't. The third act descends into a visceral, disturbing, and surreal mess which, at times, made me sick to my stomach. The Biblical allegories continue but I didn't like the portrayal of God as vain and selfish and His followers as fanatical and destructive (It should be noted that this is my interpretation and others may view it differently). I don't consider myself to be a very religious person but this just seemed very offensive to me. I was also disturbed by the portrayal of the destruction of Mother Earth because the way Lawrence's character is treated was too much for me to watch. There is one particular scene where she is literally thrown to the ground and beaten that had me sobbing and don't get me started on the scenes with her baby, which are horrific Again, I appreciate the message but the images are so repulsive. I guess you could say that I really liked mother! until the main character became a mother!
