Exciting chaos, slightly stale

Rating: 6/10 (12 January 2020)

Mother! is a purely allegorical film. In its foundation it mixes biblical allegories into a story about mother nature. The intent of director Darren Aronofsky is completely lucid. He wants the audience to reflect on the history of humanity and its impact on our planet, as well as of how our relation to God is ultimately what makes us destroy each other and our home. There are many layers in this film however I can't say that I experience the layers to be particularly deep. Mother! is so concerned about its metaphors that it neglects in creating fully fleshed characters and doesn't contribute any poignant ideas to the conversation about climate change. Yes, we have destroyed our planet. Yes, we have an unheatlhy relation to religion. Then what? This wouldn't be an issue had it been that it didn't take itself so incredibly seriously. It comes dangerously close to being goofy at its climax.
What saves Mother! is actually the ways in which Aronofsky choses to portray and visualise the metaphors. Watching the house deteriorate symbiotically with The Mother and all the visitors that arrogantly and violently storm their home was thrilling. The allegories were excellently portrayed by the actors, I think especially Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem were fantastic. Mother! is anything but boring and manages to entertain all the way through in quite a ride. It marvels technically and I celebrate any filmmaker that tries to do something new. But Mother! doesn't fail by technical marvel, it just leaves me seeking a refreshing statement in a battle it clearly wants to participate in.