Aronofsky's Masterpiece.

Rating: 10/10 (23 September 2017)

Disclaimer: Darren Aronofsky is one of my favorite directors. With that said however, I am very critical of his work, simply because of the standards established by some of his films. He has once again established a new high-watermark.
Unfortunately, the trailer for the film has resulted in a number of people thinking it's a simple horror film. And while it does share some characteristics of those films within the genre, it's not a horror film. I think the trailer is responsible for a lot of the negative reviews of the film.
A host of other negative feedback has been as a result of the religious allegory employed in the film. The film begins with Bardem placing a crystal in a display on a mantle, in a burned out house. When he does, the house no longer wears the scars of a fire. A burned corpse in a bed is revitalized, and Jennifer Lawrence awakens. In the story, Javier Bardem and Jennifer Lawrence play a married couple, who live in a grandiose house. Bardem is a poet, who suffers from writer's block, and Lawrence is in the process of repairing the house after a fire. While not immediately known, viewers will soon arrive at the realization that Bardem is the God of Abraham, Lawrence is Mother Nature, and the house represents Earth. Across the early part of the story we are introduced to, albeit sans names, Adam, Eve, Cain, and Abel. Aronofsky's also provides the viewer with the creation of Eve from Adam's rib, Eve eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the expulsion of Adam and Eve from paradise, and the death of Abel at the hand's of his brother Cain. Paradise, in this case is Bardem's writing room. After the death of Abel, family and friends gather at the house, and proceed to disrespect both Lawrence and the house. After such disrespect of the latter results in the bursting of pipes in the kitchen (The Great Flood), the family and friends leave.
The allegory continues in the second part of the film, with Lawrence's pregnancy. The pregnancy, along with the interactions with the family, inspire Bardem to finally breakthrough his writer's block. The subsequent work (The Holy Bible) further heightens Bardem's fame as a poet, as well as results in a plethora of fans seeking him out and visiting the house. All. Hell. Breaks. Loose. As Lawrence watches in horror, the house is overrun. As she scrambles from room to room, we are witness to the transgressions of humanity across history. (Wars. Genocide. Religious persecution.) Eventually Bardem finds Lawrence and both find safety in the writing room (Paradise). Lawrence gives birth to a baby boy, and asks Bardem to dismiss everyone from the house. He refuses. When Lawrence falls asleep, Bardem takes the baby to show to everyone in the house, where the baby is subsequently killed and then cannibalized by those in the house. After a struggle, Lawrence escapes to the basement, and lights the house on fire. With the exception of Bardem, everyone dies. The film ends as it began, save for a different woman in the bed.
The religious allegory is obvious and a little-heavy handed, although I've been involved in discussions of the film with people who didn't pick up on it. However, the film has multiple allegorical levels interwoven throughout the film. While I understand the "attack on religion" argument, I disagree with it, as I would suggest its nothing more than Aronofsky holding up a mirror to religion. But it's not just religion. It's a mirror for a patriarchal society. It's a mirror for willful ignorance. Ultimately though, I believe it's a mirror for a society that abuses the Earth. The religious allegory is nothing more than a convenient vehicle to drive home the message of environmental conservation. After all, Mother Earth is the protagonist for a reason.