Spies in the house of love?

Rating: 7/10 (15 September 2017)

"Mother!" follows a couple (Lawrence and Bardem) who live in solitude in an expansive farmhouse that the wife has painstakingly restored from a fire. One evening, they are visited by a doctor (Ed Harris), whose wife (Michelle Pfeiffer) follows. The dynamics of the home are turned upside down, and chaos ensues.
I won't attempt to give a full plot summary here, as it's truly a waste of time. If the cryptic promotional materials and slim premise are enough to intrigue (as they did myself), then give the film a go. The first half of "Mother!" is just shy of brilliance, with bizarre character interactions, wry humor, and phenomenal performances from all involved. At times, the dynamics between Lawrence, Bardem, Harris, and Pfeiffer give one the sense that they're watching a zany stage play, and the actors (especially Pfeiffer and Harris) clearly have a ball with this. As the film progresses into its second half, it shifts and expands in ways that are unabashedly over-the-top, and Aronofsky quite literally pulls the rug out from under his audience.
The film is stuffed with metaphors that are clearly Biblical, but there are numerous bents and other influences spilling in, most notably "Rosemary's Baby," which seems to be a prominent influence Aronofsky wears on his sleeve here; that said, "Mother!" is a very different film from it. The second act is chaotic and grotesque, and it's effective up to a point, but it brazenly crosses the line that the first act so cleverly toed; and perhaps that's the aim here, but it's not as enthralling as what comes before it.
Overall, I found "Mother!" at times riveting and consistently well-acted. It moves from being delightfully off-kilter and sinister to fiery pandemonium, the latter of which doesn't have the same consistent pull as the former. It is no less a thoroughly weird and engrossing epic that demands attention, but I personally found the second act to run itself thin. 7/10.