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Mother is a 2017 psychological horror drama film directed by Darren Aronofsky. This film... this film is insane. Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Kristen Wiig (of all people?), this movie has garnered a lot of attention in such a short period of time. You may have heard about the walkouts at its screening or the critical and general backlash. This movie is one that is going to divide audiences simply because of its subject matter in the first place. But before I talk about the movie, I wanna talk about Darren Aronofsky first. The first Aronofsky film I had the pleasure of seeing was the 2005 film The Fountain. I was younger at the time and couldn’t really understand the movie but as I grew older, I started to see the symbolism and meaning in The Fountain. This movie also had mixed reviews and let everyone know that Aronofsky was going to make his movies his way. Mother! reminded me of The Fountain in many ways and also reminded me that Aronofsky still doesn’t really care what people think of his movies as long as the message gets across. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about the plot of Mother!.
On the surface, the plot is very simple for this film. A woman is living a complacent life with her husband in their home in the middle of nowhere. He is a struggling poet in the middle of writing his new book and she is busy remodeling their house that was destroyed by a fire when her husband was younger. Everything is going fine until an unannounced guest shows up at the house, thinking it to be a bed and breakfast. Even though it’s not, the husband let’s the man stay anyways. As time go’s by, more and more people enter the house and test the woman’s patience until all hell breaks loose and chaos reigns free.
To understand Mother!, you must first understand the meaning of allegory. Allegory’s definition is a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one. Mother! is simply one gigantic allegory for the Bible sprinkled with environmentalist attitudes told from the point of view of Mother Earth. Which is a crazy idea, especially for general audiences. I’m not going to go into a deconstruction of Mother! today for that would spoil the film, so I shall save that for another time.
Darren Aronofsky’s Mother! is beautifully shot, strangely told, and truly experimental. It’s not a bad film in my opinion but simply a film that relies on the opinions of the viewer to become a success. It is so filled to the brim with the attitudes and ideas of its director that it transcends being a film and turns into an essay on Christianity. This is a movie that is being nominated for “worst of” awards and also being critically acclaimed and nominated for “best of” awards. It is shocking. It’s violent. It’s intelligent. And while I probably won’t watch it again, I can say that it has left quite the impact on me.
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Nana! /ᐠ｡ꞈ｡ᐟ\
i actually remember seeing my mom watch this a few years ago !! i didn't watch the full thing with her, but i decided to stick around towards the end. i remember being... so traumatized by the baby sacrifice scene. ⊙﹏⊙∥
but overall, i really like your review !! it's full of detail and it really gives you a quick background on not only the plot, but also the author and the definition of allegory !!
i'm actually debating on whether i should give it a proper watch. what are your thoughts? :OOO
i would say def give it a proper watch and follow along with an allegory guide for the movie! i know they have several for mother! online. makes me feel like a movie detective because you can follow along and know what the director is trying to convey. it's a very good movie but i'd say give it one good watch and then put it somewhere in the brain vault. one of my favorites quotes really sums up how i feel abt this movie.
"Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable." - Cesar A. Cruz
by that i mean all good art should have the intention of creating a reaction. making you see something from a different pov. this movie made my stomach turn but also made me think.
so tdlr; give it a good watch and decode it like a puzzle
by StudioJiggly; ; Report