mother! a dark comedy nightmare

Rating: 10/10 (9 October 2017)

This is an experimental film. It refuses to follow cinematic norms in pacing, lighting, plot line, camera work (66 mins are close-ups of J Lawrence's face), even having no musical score, just relying on the sounds created in the house and silence to keep the audience in suspense. Because of this, it is a film that needs your full concentration (& patience) to follow what is happening and to engage with the characters' experiences. It therefore relies far more heavily than normal on the individual viewer's willingness to do this, hence the reason many find this film heavy going - we're all used to having our attention and feelings guided by musical scores, formulaic narrative and easily digestible dialogue.
Of course, other's will find some of the content distasteful, still more are politically turned off by the message and those with religious beliefs may be offended by the allegorical imagery. Add to that the flawed marketing campaign that has clearly miffed a lot of audiences (or is that CinemaScore F actually going to improve the film's art house pedigree long term?). Is it any wonder therefore, that this is an immensely polarising film as borne out by the reviews on this and other sites?
If, however, you don't fall into one of the above groups, then this can be an extremely rewarding film. You need to be prepared to invest yourself in it and allow the tension & irritation to build in a way rarely experienced especially in a multiplex!, The whole point of this film is that you should not be a passive viewer, simply witnessing someone else's suffering, the film aims to make you feel uncomfortable in a way we're not used to in a cinema, to identify with the character's pain so you feel it too. Is that entertainment? Probably not. Is it art with a capital A? Maybe. And that may be why many find the film pretentious.
To me, what it is, is exciting. For a filmmaker to try and create a sort of "virtual reality" for the emotions while watching a film is like taking cinematic viewing to the next level. To get there you have to accept the narrative is not time-linear, that the camera work is claustrophobic, that many scenes are chaotic and extreme - that's the point, the film wants to disorientate you, shake you up, wake you out of your emotional slumber. "Feel something" it shouts, "Anything, just feel it!"
That probably all adds up to commercial suicide but I suspect it's protagonists already knew that. This is a film with performances so committed (especially that of J Lawrence & M Pfeiffer in what might be awards worthy performances if the film's divisiveness can be overlooked by awards bodies), the camera work, sound and direction so "out there", that I think they only really cared about the message, the experience of making "mother!" and the cinematic legacy it's likely to leave behind.