There's no sitting on the fence with this one

Rating: 8/10 (21 December 2017)

Aronofsky's Mother! Seems to be a film dividing audiences in two very distinct segments. You'll either hate it and wonder WTF such a talented cast, crew and studio were thinking or you'll appreciate the challenging story telling and admire it for its boldness and unflinching approach to presenting something quite as vague as this is.
In short, this is a movie which is open to interpretation on nearly all levels. The lack of distinctive plot lines and/or character development could mean you fight the movie all the way through as you try to figure out where you have missed an element that might explain what is happening on screen.
The movie begins with a scene of Javier Bardem placing a diamond on an altar which seems to cause a previously destroyed house to regenerate to its former glory and Jennifer Lawrence awakening in the bedroom calling for him. The names of the characters are never mentioned, with the story allowing for the interpretation of their characteristics on a meta level rather than a personal one. Bardem is a writer, a poet, a creator whose demeanour around the refurbished home being tended to by Lawrences "Mother", is one of frustration and dissatisfaction. He appears to be in love with his "wife", who he refers to as perfect, his inspiration and a goddess. You get the sense he is more proud of her than actually in love, as he leaves her constantly to try and breakthrough his creative block.
Mother has a calm and fragile appearance. Fretting over maintaining their space in the house, tinkering with colours for the render on interior walls using earthy hues and clay like textures. Any disturbances to her environment cause her to experience anxiety attacks which she nullifies by drinking an unknown golden cocktail. She seems to be utterly devoted to her Husband, providing him with support and constantly making food and offers of solace which he continually brushes off.
Soon enough there is a knock at the door and Ed Harris' sickly and presumptuous Man barges his way into the home under the guise of mistaking it for a B&B. He disrupts the relative tranquillity of the house with his constant coughing, smoking, drinking and overly familiar attitude. Bardem seems captivated with the man and invites him to stay. It is also revealed that the man is familiar with Bardems book, having read it many times over his life.
A scene where Lawrence investigates the sounds of someone vomiting downstairs reveals that the man is being nursed by Him after over-imbibing and possibly wounding his chest during the drinking session.
The next day Michelle Pfeiffers Woman knocks on the door, claiming to be the Mans wife. It is at this point in the movie that the correlation with the biblical tale of Adam and Eve become all too obvious.
The remainder of the movie follows a path tracking a parallel with many of the iconic creationist stories from Genesis. Think Garden of Eden, Cain & Able and many other religious themes.
By the final act of the film the creative block suffered by Him is broken after Mother convinces him to make a child together as a symbol of their love. By the following morning he has written something that "speaks to every man" and soon enough people from everywhere are coming to the house looking for him as he soaks up his new-found adoration like a red carpet celebrity.
After inviting everyone to his house things quickly begin to unravel during a frantic sequence of deterioration and debauchery inside the house where Lawrence struggles to be heard or attended to as she eventually goes into labour amongst the chaos. He finds her just in time and takes her back into the boarded up study, where the Man and Woman destroyed his most cherished item earlier. It provides her with a sanctuary from the madness going on throughout the house and she gives birth.
He wants to show the people their new born baby, but she refuses and a waiting game takes place where she eventually succumbs to sleep and he snatches the baby away and presents it to the masses.
The final scenes are unnerving and dark, especially for a major production studio to release and were probably the final nail in the coffin for those that hated it or the exclamation point (as per the title) that complete the circle of the biblical allegory.
It is no surprise that Aronofsky has again gone in strong with Christian themes running throughout another of his films and it should also be taken with notice that if you haven't been a fan of those previous films (Noah & Pi most notably) then you probably aren't going to like this one.
Some have mentioned the allegory is more representative of relationship dynamics and centred around the feelings of isolation and how anxiety can impact on your perspective of what the outside world really is to someone suffering in these ways. As I said earlier, this is a film open to interpretation.
A challenging watch. If you're not on board after 20mins you can probably save yourself the remaining 80mins and get started on something else.