Ian Y
Not a horror film. And not a good film..
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
07/21/24
Full Review
Sarah F
(Spoilers ahead)
For those saying this is not a horror movie, you’re right. This is not a movie for entertainment. It's the kind of movie you need to watch with an intelligent and open mind. It's entirely grounded in reality, at least your average God-lovin’, church-goin’, bedside-prayin' individual’s reality. It perfectly depicts the intersecting dynamics of the Christian God, Mother Nature, and humanity from an atheist perspective. It's a heavy subject to cover and Aronofsky doesn't stray from that truth as depicted in the brutal, violent scenes that appear one after another.
Religion, although central, isn’t the only theme incorporated into the film; Mother Nature is portrayed as a traditionally feminine homemaker who is abused throughout the film both psychologically and physically by God and humanity. This detail sends a different, yet still on-theme message that: (most) Women - the good, the gentle, the giving, have been the target of greed, lust, violence, and blame since the beginning of time.
The film sets out to condense the violence carried out in every corner of the world into one house, hence the constant torment of our female protagonist. Director Darren Aronofsky doesn’t attempt to sugarcoat the harm humanity commits on its own environment by allowing these intruders to engage in virtuous acts. He decidedly chooses to leave out any positive characteristics of humanity in an effort to directly showcase our brutal nature. It’s also worth mentioning that He, or “God” in this film, is surrounded by evidence that His creation is not living up to the expectations set for them in His book (the Bible), yet He ignores it all, because they worship and adore Him.
One of my favorite artistic choices Aronofsky incorporated was not giving any of the characters names. Although never publicly stated, my interpretation of this decision was that, because the aim of this film was to showcase humanity’s downfalls, giving characters a backstory or names would bring too much of a personal detail to the story. It would allow the viewer to recognize that there is also goodness present in this person, that there could be context to excuse the bad. While it’s widely understood that humans are flawed, oftentimes we like to find evidence that can rationalize and justify these flaws, whether that be poor parenting, childhood trauma, cultural differences, or even basic biology - and these flaws tend to go ignored. Aronofsky chooses to challenge that tendency in this film, to force us to face many, yet still only a fraction of the sins we commit towards each other and to Mother Earth with no personal tragedy or trauma to excuse it.
The ending is incredibly symbolic in a way that isn’t so obvious. During the climax of the movie, He tells Mother that they need to “forgive” all of the people who destroyed their home. They’ve said they’re sorry, so all should be forgotten and they should be allowed to start fresh. At the end of the movie, Mother gives Him her forgiveness for destroying her and her home, and He is allowed to start fresh and the cycle starts over again with the same scene we saw at the beginning of the movie. I choose to believe Aronofsky wanted to highlight how God is truly just as flawed as humans are, and that in the end, Earth is the only thing that creates for us, provides for us, keeps us alive and thriving no matter what harm we might do to it. God may be the creator of the universe, but mother nature is who gifts us the tools we need to survive over and over again. We worship God and thank him in every pre-meal prayer, but I believe this film also aims to convey that mother nature is our forgotten creator. Again there are correlations to the way women (particularly mothers) are treated in our society today; most mothers are innately generous, kind, willing to sacrifice for their children, yet they are disregarded and taken for everything they have to give and blamed for the consequences. Even after all of the violence humanity has inflicted on women, each and every day we forgive and trust them because we see the good we know is there.
Yes, it's violent, it's gorey, it creates a horrible uneasiness within the viewer, and I think that’s what Aronofsky knows we need as a society. So often do we hear on the news and through social media about the detrimental effects our wastefulness has caused, and how easily have we become numb to it? Being told the facts directly has led to a comfortability, because the news won’t remind us to our face that this is our fault. Social media might, but even then it won’t inspire the feeling within ourselves to change. Mother! is horribly dark for a reason, because it’s supposed to do just that. It’s a jarring and deeply intimate approach to the issue of climate change and human cruelty and hypocrisy. A news briefing, social media post, or film documentary could educate you on it, but this is the type of movie that stays with you and in turn, it’s message as well.
Based on the reviews I've seen thus far, I understand that many are thinking that this movie was unnecessary, that maybe the message is tired or that they would rather Aronofsky had made some other genre of film instead, however I think this kind of thinking can apply to literally every movie ever. For example, instead of making a zombie movie, a director could just tweet that zombies are scary instead. Or make a documentary about how zombies would function if they existed. With Interstellar, director Christopher Nolan could have just told people that space is a series of complex quantum mechanics and made a documentary about it. So when you think about it, most movies have a central theme that is “overrated” and “common knowledge”, and it’s really the stylistic choices directors make for their films that make all of the difference between whether a movie is “good” or “bad”. And to me, a movie can’t get much more detailed, symbolic, and full of cinematic devices and personal interpretation than mother!. Even if the message isn't anything 100% new for most of us, it's still a portrayal of the message from a different perspective which I think in and of itself is a reason to like the film.
Finally, the most important part of this movie is that even if you’re watching it purely for entertainment, I hope we can all agree that the entire time we’d be rooting for Mother. We’d be on her side entirely, questioning why He won’t listen to her concerns, understanding that if this were to happen to us we would react similarly. It’s impressive that Aronofsky was able to create a film that heavily contradicts one of the world’s most widely practiced religions, yet if we were to watch it without understanding the symbolism, we would unknowingly agree with what he is trying to say.
Overall, this film works hard to incorporate incredible amounts of detail to best convey its message from a different perspective than is typical, which is so necessary when a message like this is so constant in the media that we cease to pay attention. Again, this movie and the feelings it inspires are meant to stay with you. Humans are much more likely to change fundamentally when prompted by internal motivators rather than data or facts regurgitated time and again. There are countless other things I love about this movie but this review has already exceeded what I’m sure is considered appropriate, so I’ll stop here.
Thanks for reading :)
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
05/11/25
Full Review
Yash B
Darren Aronofsky gets really experimental in his 2017 film, "mother!" which is a bizarre yet fascinating experience. This is a movie in which everything is a metaphor and I had to accept that early on. It is a bit slow at times, but I was intrigued by it, and watching videos about it online made me appreciate it more. The film is a bizarre journey full of creepy moments and uncomfortable imagery. I definitely think this is the weakest Aronofsky film I have seen but I also think it is one of the boldest. Overall, it is a movie that wasn't necessarily my cup of tea in every way, but it is certainly one that feels original and unique, and I respect it for existing among his other films which I feel are more accessible to myself and others.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
04/28/25
Full Review
Madi V
*some spoilers here!* I only give four stars because the symbolism behind the film is lost if the viewer hasn’t been exposed to specific religious literature. Mother is Mother Nature, Him is God, Man is Adam, Woman is Eve, and the brothers are Cain and Abel. The events that take place wink at certain events in the bible. Mother is in disbelief at Him’s open arms to Man and Man’s companions. I love the modernization of religious literature this movie captures. I just wish it had been more apparent to audiences what was transpiring on the screen.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
04/26/25
Full Review
Brooke A
I hated this film so much.
First of all, I was internally screaming the entire movie. It had me crawling in my own skin.
I could relate to the main character Jennifer Lawrence so much.. just felt very in tune with that feeling she had most of the film. When there was about 15 minutes left, I couldn't take it anymore, and walked out. The feelings this film gave me were horrible and honestly I walked away feeling kind of unhinged if I'm honest.
I love Jennifer Lawrence and although she was a great actress in this, the producers ruined the whole film. Could've really done something with this. Total flop.
Rated 1/5 Stars •
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
04/22/25
Full Review
Ari V
*spoilers*
The film seems to basically postulate that 'the creator' revels equally in the beauty and love of his creations as in their destructiveness and strife. Because, like them, he is an implicitly duplicitous/dualistic being. Earth is a creation that whom he likes as much and as little as any of them, but whose love for him is uniquely pure. And when his creations terrorize her into murder suicide, only then can she give him something he finds particularly precious. Allowing him to restart the cycle.
An interesting idea, but not one that holds up particularly well to evidence-based scrutiny as far as I can tell.
Perhaps more than anything else, wittingly or unwittingly, this is a self-portrait of its creator(s). Perhaps even a sort of covert, self-loathing cry for help. The intangibles of this possibility, are where I find its main resonance and value. 3.8/5
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
03/31/25
Full Review
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