Darren’s review of Darren Aronofsky’s 'Mother!'

Yoh! There are going to be so many mixed reactions about Darren Aronofsky’s hit, Mother! I absolutely loved it. In actual fact (and I think I’m in the minority here), I would categorise it as a bit of a dark comedy. A very, very dark comedy with ample social commentary, but I can understand how some people might react differently to it. 

Mother! is a 2017 psychological horror film which features the likes of Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, and even Michelle Pfeiffer. The film focuses on a young woman who experiences out of the ordinary things happen to her when another couple arrives in their neighbourhood. The film was released in September and has just made it onto our big screens here in South Africa. 

The film was directed by Darren Aronofsky. I must admit that I am a big fan of his work. I think he should be mandated to make a film a year, so long as we don’t ask him to compromise like he did with Noah; which nobody enjoyed because no one enjoys any artistic endeavour whitewashed with compromise – almost like with what we’re seeing in the DC universe right now with Justice League. 

Mother! is Darren Aronofsky at his best - as in The Fountain best, and Black Swan best, and Requiem for a Dream best and his genius is on full display with Mother!. I can understand how different audiences are going to react differently to it. For some it could appear to be an assault on your religious sensibilities. If you are comfortable questioning the nature of belief and can even intellectually challenge the motivations of a creator, then this is riveting stuff. If your emotional and social awareness tends towards the religious fundamentalist, then I imagine you will be offended by this film.

To the movie itself, here are my thoughts. No one in the movie is named, their characters are archetypes it would seem. A poet man and his young wife live alone in a ‘fixer-upper’ in a clearing in the woods. Javier Bardem is an absolutely spellbinding, don’t-take-your-eyes-off-the-screen patriarch and Jennifer Lawrence’s heart-wrenching, dutiful young wife (or muse if you may call it) is brilliant. Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer are sublime and relish in their roles. They both are utterly flawed characters.

To quote myself, I always say: “If you want to watch a horror movie, then watch Wes Anderson. If you want to watch CGI, then you watch Michael Bay. But if you want your neural pathways redirected and you want to be able to start questioning the nature of our reality, then you go and watch a Darren Aronofsky”. To me, Mother! is just another one of Darren Aronofsky’s finest works.