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Mother!, 2017
In this highly allegorical film, a woman (Jennifer Lawrence) lives in a sprawling home she is restoring as her husband (Javier Bardem) struggles to write a book of poetry. One day a man (Ed Harris) arrives at their home and the husband invites them to stay. Soon thereafter, the man's wife (Michelle Pfeiffer) also arrives. The couple becomes increasingly intrusive into the lives of the main characters, but it's just a preview of what is to come.
I remember reading a review of this movie that gave it an F. As with any movie that gets scored this way, it kind of makes you want to check it out. For me, where the film was very successful was in the way that it managed to exist in a very blatant figurative mode while at the same time evoking repeated visceral and emotional reactions from me.
I won't claim to have freaked out at any point during this movie, but it was a solid two hours of shuddering recognition and "ugh, don't remind me" moments. There are some basic nightmare premise moments, such as a person coming into your personal space and treating you and your things with disrespect. There are some gender-specific nightmare moments, such as a man whose flirting attention turns vicious when he's rejected or the notion of giving birth in chaotic and dangerous circumstances.
It took me a while, honestly, to pick up on the religious aspect of the film. For a large part of the runtime I was reading it more as an allegory about environmental damage with the house being the Earth and the intruders being people and their lack of care for the home. Looking at it through a lens of connecting to Christian mythology, I see those connections, but that's not really the level on which I was interacting with the movie, if that makes sense.
I thought that Lawewnce's performance was really stunning. At so many turns, she is disrespected, but forced to put a smile on her face out of the rules of civility. What she really gets across is someone who thinks that they can grit it out, only to realize that what's happening has no end and is only going to escalate. Bardem is maddeningly effective as her awful husband, who not only totally disregards her feelings, but fails to act in any meaningful way until it is far too late.
I did like the way that the film was shot, moving around the space of the house so that even something as simple as the woman turning to look at her husband comes across like a jump scare. The house has many layers, and manages to feel both too large to keep track of and claustrophobic.
This film was quite the barrage. It certainly held my attention! I'm not sure I'd want to watch it again, but I'm very glad I checked it out.
Mother!, 2017
In this highly allegorical film, a woman (Jennifer Lawrence) lives in a sprawling home she is restoring as her husband (Javier Bardem) struggles to write a book of poetry. One day a man (Ed Harris) arrives at their home and the husband invites them to stay. Soon thereafter, the man's wife (Michelle Pfeiffer) also arrives. The couple becomes increasingly intrusive into the lives of the main characters, but it's just a preview of what is to come.
I remember reading a review of this movie that gave it an F. As with any movie that gets scored this way, it kind of makes you want to check it out. For me, where the film was very successful was in the way that it managed to exist in a very blatant figurative mode while at the same time evoking repeated visceral and emotional reactions from me.
I won't claim to have freaked out at any point during this movie, but it was a solid two hours of shuddering recognition and "ugh, don't remind me" moments. There are some basic nightmare premise moments, such as a person coming into your personal space and treating you and your things with disrespect. There are some gender-specific nightmare moments, such as a man whose flirting attention turns vicious when he's rejected or the notion of giving birth in chaotic and dangerous circumstances.
It took me a while, honestly, to pick up on the religious aspect of the film. For a large part of the runtime I was reading it more as an allegory about environmental damage with the house being the Earth and the intruders being people and their lack of care for the home. Looking at it through a lens of connecting to Christian mythology, I see those connections, but that's not really the level on which I was interacting with the movie, if that makes sense.
I thought that Lawewnce's performance was really stunning. At so many turns, she is disrespected, but forced to put a smile on her face out of the rules of civility. What she really gets across is someone who thinks that they can grit it out, only to realize that what's happening has no end and is only going to escalate. Bardem is maddeningly effective as her awful husband, who not only totally disregards her feelings, but fails to act in any meaningful way until it is far too late.
I did like the way that the film was shot, moving around the space of the house so that even something as simple as the woman turning to look at her husband comes across like a jump scare. The house has many layers, and manages to feel both too large to keep track of and claustrophobic.
This film was quite the barrage. It certainly held my attention! I'm not sure I'd want to watch it again, but I'm very glad I checked it out.