Review of mother! (2017) by Travis W — 16 Nov 2017
The one called "mother" (Jennifer Lawrence) never leaves the house; she barely steps into the open air. The viewer is even more confined, pressed nearly to her flesh with a handheld camera for the entirety of the film. As surreal occurrences begin to intrude, each moment of domestic minutia draws taut with latent terror. Mother! fastens us to the smallness of life, braced against invasion, until life, with all its unkempt bigness, barges in and overwhelms.
Poised as the unwitting victim, Jennifer Lawrence explores a new range of performance for herself, swinging between softly maternal and rigidly hysterical, while Javier Bardem and Michelle Pfeiffer stick to familiar types. Bardem elides the spectrum from hulkingly overbearing to trustworthy and capable as only he can, and Pfeiffer's edges remain just as chiseled and sharp as ever.
To say more, to parse out the specific threads of plot and development, would be a disservice to the first-time viewer. Mother! is a maddening surprise of a film, and the discomforts and satisfactions of its experience rely on that surprise.
The worst thing a first-time viewer can do is heed Aronofsky's own allegorical reading of the film. The movie he made is immensely more fascinating than the one he intended. Don't let him or any other critic take that experience from you. Be in the experience before you read into the substance.
This review of mother! (2017) was written by Travis W on 16 Nov 2017.
mother! has generally received positive reviews.
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