A Film Expressing Interesting Ideas, if Nothing Else

Rating: 7/10 (21 May 2018)

As I scroll through the reviews of this film, what I'm getting a sense of is that people don't like the movie because it's gross, weird, shocking and controversial. If you think those traits a bad movie make, I don't know what to tell you. There is a massive legacy in film history of people making weird gross controversial films that are loved by critics and film snobs, as it were, but not the masses. mother! is definitely one of those films, a film that is going to go down in history as a cult classic.
I think everyone knows at this point what the movie is about. It's allegory from start to finish. It's Biblical allegory, like Pilgrim's Progress, but unlike that story, mother! is very anti-bible and anti-god. Darren Aronofsky is a Jewish Atheist, so much of his work is centred around a very critical view of the Bible. We saw this before with his big-budget adaptation of Noah (which I also like, so you can sort of see why I would like this as well)
In this film, Aronofsky frames God (known in the film as 'Him' or 'The poet') as a blathering idiot who is so caught up in his own legacy that he ignores the constant pleas of his wife, known as 'mother', played by Jennifer Lawrence. Mother, or Mother Nature's sole purpose is to protect what is hers. She desires to live alone with her husband the poet, but He denies her that right, and invites unwanted guests in again and again, who bring nothing but arrogance and destruction to her house, representing humanity's arrogance and wanton destruction of the world and environment.
At several points in the later half of the film, the unwanted guests say that the 'home' is everyones and that they should share the home. This parallels a real life phenomenon of many people using religion as a justification for their greed and exploitation of the world's resources.
There is a lot to think about in this film, and I think it's worth discussing as to what the story is trying to say about our world, our relationship to God (whether real or not) and how we use religion to justify atrocities.
However, I wouldn't say this film is perfect. I think it does get caught up in itself sometimes, and there are some weird contrivances within the story that muddles up the allegory. The presence of a phone that can call 911, especially, doesn't make sense. What do the police represent in this allegory? It's hard to tell. What is ridiculous, though, is that this film was nominated for several Razzies (worst director, worst actress, and worst supporting actor) which is entirely perplexing because the acting and directing aren't what makes this film 'bad' in any respect. People who have issues with this film have issues with the writing, so if you want to say something in this film deserves a Razzie, make it worst writer (although I don't think that's a category in the Razzies, which would explain a lot)
This film isn't for everyone, and I respect that. People should understand though that just because a film isn't for them doesn't mean it's bad. You have to think of something more concrete to explain why something is bad beyond you simply not liking it or thinking it's gross and controversial.