Darren Aronofsky’s new horror drama has divided audiences and critics.
There were boos at the Venice Film Festival while other have rapturously priased its “sickening” vision.
Even the main star, Jennifer Lawrence admitted she had many doubt before, during and after filming the controversial movie.
She said: “When I saw it with an audience (for the first time), I felt really shaken afterwards. I pulled Darren aside, I was like ‘this was a mistake, we took it too far’.”
She added: “I was really shaken. My first reaction [to seeing the film] was that we took it too far. But then after the images died down a little bit, [the movie’s] exactly what we’re supposed to be doing and what we need to be doing.
“We have a message and if we watered it down to make people comfortable then what’s the point? Why even make it?”
The critics have reflected that unsettling reaction. The Express called the movie a “hysterical rant”. READ THE FULL EXPRESS REVIEW HERE
SCROLL DOWN FOR A FULL REVIEW ROUND-UP FROM CRITICS
The Daily Beast:
Aronofsky has long taken a certain sadistic glee in following his exquisite female subjects to the depths of hell, whether it be Natalie Portman’s obsessive ballerina in Black Swan or Jennifer Connelly’s desperate druggie in Requiem for a Dream. But the torment brought upon Lawrence’s Mother is something else entirely. She is robbed of her voice, her agency, and ultimately her body as the hordes… descend on her Eden, tearing it to pieces. It is a sickeningly glorious mess.
Variety:
By all means, go to “mother!” and enjoy its roller-coaster-of-weird exhibitionism. But be afraid, very afraid, only if you’re hoping to see a movie that’s as honestly disquieting as it is showy.
JENNIFER LAWRENCE DELIVERS SEX AND DAETH IN NEW MOVIE RED SPARROW
Screen International:
A devouring and restless experience: a creative surge that’s like the lancing of a boil, releasing a torrent of despair and disgust for the greedy chaos of society today as well as a self-loathing portrait of the artist as an emotional succubus.
The Hollywood Reporter:
A very Rosemary’s Baby-like intimate horror tale that definitely grabs your attention and eventually soars well over the top to make the bold concluding statement that, for some creators, art is more important than life.
indieWire:
Mother! begins as a slow burn and builds toward a furious blaze. Awash in both religious and contemporary political imagery, Darren Aronofsky’s allusive film opens itself to a number of allegorical readings, but it also works as a straight-ahead head rush.
Aronofsky doesn’t lean toward claustrophobia. He externalizes his lead character’s horror into the foundations of the house. The house bleeds, it has oddly human-looking orifices, it has a beating heart. Aronofsky sends his characters into a nightmarish dreamscape that grows and evolves, particularly in the bonkers last third, which builds in pitch, scope, and sheer cinematic audacity, picking up overt religious and political resonance.
Mother! is out in UK cinemas on September 15