The End of the World

Mother! is an incoherent mess. Every so often a movie comes along that divides audiences. Darren Aronofsky is a controversial director who regularly pushes boundaries. Mother! has a 68% on Rotten Tomatoes, but a rare “F” grade on Cinemascore and 3 Razzie nominations. As a Christian, I knew I was going to dislike Mother!, but I had no idea why until I eventually suffered through it. If you have no idea what’s going on, Mother! is just incomprehensible with disorienting camera work, cryptic dialogue, unusual behavior, and no score telling you how to feel. Mother! has been compared to Rosemary’s Baby, but the frustrating home invasion that the lead character faces is very different.

Although none of the characters are named, it’s easy to pick up on who they’re meant to represent. The perpetually confused Jennifer Lawrence is the titular mother who wants to turn her beautiful secluded home into a paradise. A mysterious Javier Bardem is her husband Him who is a great poet who loves to create. Their life is interrupted by a man played by a persistent Ed Helms who ends up sick with a wound on his side. The next day a woman arrives played by an assertive Michelle Pfeffer who joins her husband at the house.

Him becomes angry when they break his prized possession. Real life brothers Brian and Domhnall Gleeson play their two sons with the oldest killing the youngest. Blood starts to form in the house and the kitchen is flooded when more people arrive. Him writes a great poem that draws an even bigger crowd that includes an unsettling Kristen Wiig who spreads his message. When mother gives birth to a baby boy, the disturbing aftermath makes the Christian allegory offensively clear. I don’t know what Aronofsky is trying to accomplish, but I know it isn’t good when presented as a horror movie. Mother! deserved all the backlash it got.

mother is surrounded