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Mother!

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Mother!
Theatrical release poster
Directed byDarren Aronofsky
Written byDarren Aronofsky
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyMatthew Libatique
Edited byAndrew Weisblum
Music byJóhann Jóhannsson
Distributed byParamount Pictures[1]
Release dates
  • September 5, 2017 (2017-09-05) (Venice)
  • September 15, 2017 (2017-09-15) (United States)
Running time
121 minutes[2]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$30 million[3]

Mother! (stylized as mother!)[a] is a 2017 American psychological horror film written and directed by director Darren Aronofsky, and stars Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer. The plot follows a young woman whose tranquil life with her husband at their country home is disrupted by the arrival of a mysterious couple.

The film was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 74th Venice International Film Festival and premiered on September 5, 2017.[5] It was released in the United States on September 15, 2017, by Paramount Pictures. Upon release, the film received generally positive, albeit somewhat polarized, reviews from critics, many of whom praised the performances and Aronofsky's direction, though the confusing narrative was met with a mixed reception.[6]

Plot

Him (Javier Bardem) places a large crystallized object in a frame. The place he is in changes from a burnt out husk to a newly renovated house. Mother (Jennifer Lawrence) forms in a bed and wakes up to wonder where Him, her husband, is. An acclaimed poet struggling with severe writer's block, Him's creative issues begin to take a toll on the tranquil existence that Mother has created for the home. She starts seeing things around the house that discomfort her, including visualizing a beating heart within the walls of the house.

One day, a Man (Ed Harris) turns up at the house, asking for a room. Despite some worries, Mother reluctantly allows him to stay. During his occupancy, Man begins to experience prolonged coughing fits. Mother witnesses Him assist Man as he hovers over the toilet and catches a glimpse of a fresh wound by his rib area before Him covers it with his fingers. The next day, Man's wife, Woman (Michelle Pfeiffer), arrives to stay. Mother begins to become more and more frustrated with her guests, while Him begs her to let them stay as it makes the house feel alive to him. Man also tells Mother that the guests are fans of Him's work and that the male guest is dying, wanting to meet Him before he dies. However, when the Man and Woman accidentally break and shatter the crystallized object, Him and Mother come to a decision to kick them out. While preparing to leave though, two young men (the children of the guests) arrive and start to fight over the will their father has left. The one son who will be left with nothing accidentally mortally injures his brother, and seemingly flees while Him; Man and Woman take the injured son to get some help. As Mother gets more and more paranoid after she is left alone in the house, the brother comes back but leaves abruptly. Upon returning, Him informs Mother that the son has died and been buried. Dozens of people begin arriving at the house for a wake for the dead son. As more and more arrive and behave in a way that bothers Mother, she becomes angrier and eventually snaps, kicking everyone out of the house. Angry with Him for allowing so many people into the house for his own pleasure and ignoring her, she berates him before the two have sex.

The next morning, Mother announces that she is pregnant. The news elates Him and inspires him to finish his work. Within seconds, Him announces that his work has been published. In celebration, Mother prepares dinner for Him when a collection of fans arrive at the house to meet Him. As she barricades herself in her house, more fans arrive and begin to enter the house to use the bathroom. More arrive and the behavior devolves into stealing items that belong to Him, and disrupting the house. As Mother makes her way around the house, every room becomes more and more deranged and insane. Him's publisher (Kristen Wiig) takes part in the madness, executing civilians with point blank gunshots to the head. Military men with guns arrive to help Mother, but a cult of devoted fans forms around Him and engages in pagan rituals. Mother goes into labor. She finds Him, who takes her to his study, where she gives birth. The chaos outside subdues as Him tells Mother that the massive collection of people want to see the baby. Refusing to let them see the child or let Him take the boy, she holds tight onto her son. When she falls asleep, however, Him takes the baby outside to the crowd, who grab and break its neck. Devastated, Mother makes her way to the front where she sees the hacked corpse of her child and sees the collection eating his flesh. Furious at them, she calls them murderers. They turn on her, beginning to beat her until Him intervenes and stops it. Her sanity now completely shattered, Mother escapes the grasps of the crowd and makes her way to the cellar where the furnace oil tank is. Despite Him's pleas for her to stop, Mother lights the oil on fire and destroys the crowd and the house.

Both Mother and Him survive, Him completely unscathed, yet Mother is horrifically burned. He asks her for the love she has left for him, and she agrees to give it to him. He then tears open her chest, removing a large crystallized object that he places in a frame. The burned down house transforms back to unburnt, and a new Mother forms in a bed and wakes up.

Cast

Production

After 2014's Noah, Aronofsky began working on a children's film, although he stated that he "couldn't quite break it." However during that process he came up with a new idea. He ended up writing the Mother! screenplay in five days, much faster than his usual pace.[7]The film uses a dream-logic narrative, which Aronofsky has noted "if you try to unscrew it, it kind of falls apart." He defended this by further explaining "it's a psychological freak-out. You shouldn't over-explain it."[8]

Jennifer Lawrence was reportedly in talks to join the film by October 2015.[9] By January 2016, Javier Bardem was also in talks to star,[10] and by April Domhnall Gleeson, Michelle Pfeiffer, Ed Harris, and Brian Gleeson were added to the cast.[11] In March 2017, it was announced Kristen Wiig had been cast in the film.[12]

Shooting for the film began on June 13, 2016, and concluded on August 28, 2017.[13] Prior to the start of principal photography the cast rehearsed for three months in a warehouse during which time Aronofsky was able to "get a sense of movement and camera movement, and learn from that." During this time Lawrence was relatively laid back and as a result Aronofsky says he "didn't get to know the character until we started shooting, and she showed up."[7]

The film originally had a score composed by Jóhann Jóhannsson but after seeing the score synced up with the film, Aronofsky and Jóhannsson mutually agreed to not have a score. This is the first Aronofsky film without composer Clint Mansell's involvement.[14]

Release

The film was originally scheduled to be released on October 13, 2017,[15] but was moved to September 15, 2017.[16]

The film had its world premiere at the 74th Venice International Film Festival, where it was selected to compete for the Golden Lion,[5] and also screened at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival.[17][18]

On August 7, the first official trailer for the film was released.[19]

Box office

In North America, Mother! was released alongside American Assassin and is projected to gross $12–14 million from 2,368 theaters in its opening weekend.[20] It made $700,000 from Thursday night previews.[21]

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 70% based on 178 reviews and an average rating of 6.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "There's no denying that mother! is the thought-provoking product of a singularly ambitious artistic vision, though it may be too unwieldy for mainstream tastes."[22] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 74 out of 100, based on 45 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[23] The film received both boos and a standing ovation during its premiere at the Venice Film Festival.[24] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "F" on an A+ to F scale, one of less than ten films in the history of the service to receive the score.[21]

Travis Johnson of Filmink gave the film 19 out of 20, calling it a "dense, delirious, playful and serious work of capital A art, and easily the most ambitious film to come out of a major studio since Kubrick died."[25] Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of The A.V. Club gave the film a B+, writing, "the filmmaking ranks as some of Aronofsky's most skillful."[26] Ben Croll of Indiewire gave the film an A-, noting "Awash in both religious and contemporary political imagery, Darren Aronofsky’s allusive film opens itself to a number of allegorical readings, but it also works as a straight-ahead head rush."[27]

National Review film critic Kyle Smith called the film "a Biblically-infused version of torture porn", saying "it may be the most vile and contemptible motion picture ever released by one of the major Hollywood studios".[28][29]

Rex Reed, giving the movie 0 stars in ′′The Observer′′, writes that "Nothing about mother! makes one lick of sense as Darren Aronofsky’s corny vision of madness turns more hilarious than scary. With so much crap around to clog the drain, I hesitate to label it the 'Worst movie of the year' when 'Worst movie of the century' fits it even better." [30]

Notes

  1. ^ The film's teaser poster as well as its theatrical one-sheet stylise the title with a lowercase "m."[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Film Releases". Variety Insight. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
  2. ^ "MOTHER! (18)". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
  3. ^ "Mother! (2017)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved September 13, 2017.
  4. ^ Lesnick, Silas (February 6, 2017). "Darren Aronofsky's Latest Set For Fall Release". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  5. ^ a b Tartaglione, Nancy (July 27, 2017). "Venice Film Festival Sets Lido Launch For Aronofsky, Clooney, Del Toro, Payne & More As Awards Buzz Begins – Full List". Deadline.com. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
  6. ^ Giles, Jeff (September 14, 2017). "American Assassin's Aim Is A Little Off". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
  7. ^ a b Riseman, Abraham. "Darren Aronofsky Doesn't Want You to Know Anything About Mother!". Vulture. Retrieved September 7, 2017.
  8. ^ Brooks, Xan. "Darren Aronofsky on Mother! - 'Jennifer Lawrence was hyperventilating because of the emotion'". Guardian. Retrieved September 7, 2017.
  9. ^ Kroll, Justin (October 13, 2015). "Jennifer Lawrence in Talks to Star in Darren Aronofsky's Next Film (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved October 14, 2015.
  10. ^ Kroll, Justin (January 11, 2016). "Darren Aronofsky's Film Starring Jennifer Lawrence Lands at Paramount (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  11. ^ McNary, Dave (April 15, 2016). "Domhnall Gleeson, Michelle Pfeiffer Join Jennifer Lawrence in Darren Aronofsky Drama". Variety. Retrieved July 12, 2016.
  12. ^ Busch, Anita (March 23, 2017). "Kristen Wiig In Negotiations To Star In 'Where'd You Go Bernadette?'". Deadline.com. Retrieved March 26, 2017.
  13. ^ "What's Shooting". ACTRA Montreal. Retrieved September 3, 2017.
  14. ^ Cabin, Chris (October 11, 2016). "Darren Aronofsky Teases Details of His New, Enigmatic Drama; Won't Be Collaborating with Clint Mansell". Collider. Retrieved October 28, 2016.
  15. ^ Donnelly, Matt (February 6, 2017). "Paramount Pulls Brad Pitt's 'World War Z 2,' 'Friday the 13th' Reboot From Schedule". The Wrap. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
  16. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (July 21, 2017). "'Suburbicon', 'Mother!' Move Up; 'Cloverfield' Stomps To February – Paramount Release Date Changes". Deadline.com. Retrieved July 21, 2017.
  17. ^ Fleming Jr, Mike (July 25, 2017). "Toronto Film Festival 2017 Unveils Strong Slate". Deadline. Retrieved July 25, 2017.
  18. ^ Kelley, Seth (July 31, 2017). "Watch Jennifer Lawrence in Ominous First Teaser for Darren Aronofsky's 'Mother!'". Variety. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  19. ^ Foutch, Haleigh (August 7, 2017). "Full 'mother!' Trailer Reveals Darren Aronofsky's Horror Film Starring Jennifer Lawrence". Collider. Retrieved August 10, 2017.
  20. ^ "Can 'Mother!' or 'American Assassin' Poke a Hole in 'It' Box Office Balloon?". TheWrap. September 12, 2017.
  21. ^ a b D'Allesandro, Anthony. "'American Assassin' Collects $915K In Previews; 'It' Still King Of The B.O. As Horror Pic Heads To $200M+". Deadline.com. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
  22. ^ "Mother! (2017)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
  23. ^ "mother! reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive Inc. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
  24. ^ Ulivi, Stefania. "Mostra di Venezia 2017: Diluvio di fischi su «mother!», il film più atteso con Lawrence e Bardem è un flop" (in Italian).
  25. ^ Travis Johnson (September 5, 2017). "mother! Review". Filmink.
  26. ^ Vishnevetsky, Ignatiy (September 13, 2017). "God Is a Gaslighting Husband in Darren Aronofsky's Brilliantly Deranged Mother!". A. V. Club.
  27. ^ Ben Croll (September 5, 2017). "'mother!' Review: Darren Aronofsky's Audacious and Rich Cinematic Allegory Is His Most Daring Film Yet". Indiewire. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
  28. ^ Smith, Kyle (September 14, 2017). "Jennifer Lawrence's Grotesque Spoof of the Nativity". National Review.
  29. ^ Flood, Brian (September 15, 2017). "Jennifer Lawrence film 'Mother!' assailed as a 'grotesque and nauseating' attack on Christians". Fox News.
  30. ^ http://observer.com/2017/09/darren-aronofsky-mother-worst-movie-of-the-year/
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