Jennifer Lawrence

Javier Bardem

Ed Harris

Michelle Pfeiffer

Brian Gleeson

Domhnall Gleeson

Jovan Adepo

Amanda Chiu

Patricia Summersett

Eric Davis

Raphael Grosz-Harvey

Emily Hampshire

Abraham Aronofsky

Luis Oliva

Stephanie Ng Wan

Chris Gartin

Stephen McHattie

Ambrosio De Luca

Gregg Bello

Arthur Holden

Henry Kwok

Alex Bisping

Koumba Ball

Robert Higden

Elizabeth Neale

Kristen Wiig

Scott Humphrey

Marcia Jean Kurtz

Anton Koval

Carolyn Fe

Anana Rydvald

Cristina Rosato

Pierre Simpson

Mylene Savoie

Gitz Crazyboy

Shaun O'Hagan

Sabrina Campilii

Stanley B. Herman

Mizinga Mwinga

Genti Bejko

Andreas Apergis

Julianne Jain

Julien Irwin Dupuy

Bronwen Mantel

Amanda Warren

Mason Franklin

Laurence Leboeuf

Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse

Xiao Sun

Melissa Toussaint

Fred Nguyen Khan

Danny MAlin

Adam Bernett

Bineyam Girma

Mercedes Leggett

Alain Chanoine

Kimberly Laferriere

Deena Aziz

Izabela Dąbrowska

Hamza Haq

Vitali Makarov

Daniela Sandiford

Nathaly Thibault

Chloë Bellande

Nobuya Shimamoto

Scott Franklin

Dylan Golden

Ari Handel

Mark Heyman

Jennifer Madeloff

Josh Stern

Jeff G. Waxman

Colleen Bachman

Manda Cheung

Ryan Cunningham

Darren Aronofsky

Andrew Weisblum

Lindsay Graham Ahanonu

Mary Vernieu

Philip Messina

Isabelle Guay

Larry Dias

Danny Glicker

Félix Larivière

Jim Kontos

Jóhann Jóhannsson

Gillian Chandler

Judy Chin

Frédèric Duguay

Catherine Lavoie

Shari Hanson

Daniel Ross

Ariane Collman

Joey Coughlin

Martin Doepner

Shanna Roberts Salée

Sinan Saber

Marjorie Beauchamp

Stephen Craig

Chris Klein

Michel R. Lambert

Robin L. Miller

Julie Robert

Lauren Rockman

Norman Bernard

Evan Gillman

Craig Henighan

Simon Poudrette

Peter Chesney

Mario Dumont

Katherine Soares

Jason Cavalier

Marc Désourdy

Jason Gosbee

Holden Wong

Jonathan Barbeau

Jean Courteau

Dustan Lewis McBain

Shaun Nagorny

Niko Tavernise

Riva Cahn Thompson

Sabrine Canuel

Alexis Forte

Laurence Lacoste

Véronique Marchessault

Erick Martinez

Brandon Gold

Paul DeBlois

Daniel Matthews

Taylor Black

Puelo Deir

Christophe Ducassy

Dana Florescu

Lorette Leblanc

Mélanie Lebrun-Lacouvée

Tim Monich

Sylvia Stewart

Leo Yılmaz

Matthew Libatique

Margaret Lewis

Tim Stipan

Daniel Triller

Kyle Cooper

Marc Patrick Chevalier

Yoann Malnati

Robert Mattigetz

Frédéric Moreau

Chris Moseley

Kenzi Parker

Raylin Sabo

Colette Martel

Michael Lerman

Skip Lievsay

Noyan Cosarer

David Dinel

Veronique Meunier

Radia Slaimi

Guy Pigeon

Horror

Drama

mother!

Paramount Pictures

Protozoa Pictures

United States of America

This film defies being rated on a scale of 1 through 5 - it's truly almost impossible to do so. I want to rate this a 5 and I want to rate this a 3 at the same time. Both would be wrong though so I'll just settle in the middle. Aronofsky has given us many brainsick films in the past, but this is on a whole other level. Remember the batshit crazy climax of _Requiem for a Dream_? Multiply that by 50 and you get the batshit crazy climax of mother! - and that is a *huge* understatement.

I don't really want to talk too much about the film's plot or the finale as not much about the film is known to the public at this point. It's absolutely worth it to go into this film as blind as possible or maximum effectiveness. All I'll say is that the _Rosemary's Baby_ influenced poster and marketing so far is a big curve ball - it has nothing to do with that film although Polanski horror elements are clearly an inspiration to Aronofsky here.

I do want to praise three specific elements of this film that worked the best for me: (1) The sound design was absolutely magnificent. There is no score to this film - not quite sure what Jóhann Jóhansson did here - but the sound design is eerie as hell and supremely memorable. (2) The production design is next level. The house in this film is basically the co-lead (you'll see what I mean when you watch it) and it evolves drastically over the course of the film (again, you'll see what I mean when you watch it). Excellent art direction that I haven't stopped thinking about all day. (3) The performance from Jennifer Lawrence is harrowing as she really gave herself to this film and to Aronofksy's vision, but the performance that stuck with me is the one from Michelle Pfeiffer. She really embodied her character and even though she's only in maybe the first 60% of the film, she left a deep impression on the rest of it as well. Her character is crucial to the film and she injected such mystery and gravity to the events that followed her exit.

Will soon watch this again and hopefully have more meaningful thoughts. It's hard to say too much right now when hardly anyone has seen the film yet, but believe me, there is a lot to be said about _mother!_

Gimly

_mother!_, a movie title with no upper case letters. Well _mother!_, I'm glad you saved those capitals because I have a question which is going to require a lot of them: "WHO THE FUCK WAS THIS FOR!?"

_Final rating:★★½ - Had a lot that appealed to me, didn’t quite work as a whole._

I'll start by saying, maybe I'm not the demographic this film was intended for.

That said, I spent 95% of the movie with a confused expression on my face, and asking myself "what the hell is this?"  I walked into the theater expecting something good--not necessarily great, but enjoyable.  This movie was confusing, inexplicably violent, never got to the point or fleshed out a story/plot, and left me feeling very uncomfortable throughout the film's entirety.

I really DON'T recommend this movie.  It seemed like a total waste of time.  The plot was non-existent.  Confusing.  Disturbing at times, without any explanation, context or reason.

I'd give it 1 star, only because the sets were really well done.  Other than that not worth even one watch, I think.

Nuts.

<em>'mother!'</em> is an enjoyable watch, even if I didn't fully understand what was happening - I had a rough guess in my head throughout, but I was off given what I've read elsewhere online since. I'm fine with that though, I felt entertained which is all that truly matters.

Jennifer Lawrence is great, as is Javier Bardem. Those two are very much the stars of the film, though you also have Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer in noteworthy roles. Excellent casting for all four. The film, meanwhile, looks superb, from the effects to the cinematography.

It's quite unsettling and wild to watch it all unfold, in a positive way though. One of the weirdest watched no doubt, and I've seen <em>'Rubber' (2010)</em>...

Let's be honest, this is a home invasion movie trying to push itself off as an art house flick with a higher IQ.

It kind of lies to you and really hate it when movies try to pass themselves off as more than they actually are.

You can't blame the actors here, it's all the director and the studio. They wanted controversy, they wanted drama, they wanted critical praise and the wanted people to talk about it....

...but in the end, it's a home invasion movie and it wouldn't have had any of what the studio and the director wanted if they just made an honest film.

But then, if they were honest about what they were making, it probably would have done better, it would have made more money. People wouldn't have been so confused about it, the critics would have panned the hell out of it and ten years down the line it may have had a cult following.

Instead, you have a crap movie trying to pass itself off as art house...and all the pretension that comes with that.

**_Looks great, awesome themes, tedious storytelling_**

A renowned poet and his much younger wife (Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem) live in a huge old house in the sticks. He has writer’s block while she’s restoring the house after a fire. When unannounced strangers show up (including Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer), it naturally has a negative effect on the beautiful woman and her world.    

“Mother!” (2017) was helmed by Darren Aronofsky, who’s known for artsy stuff like “Requiem for a Dream” and “The Fountain,” but he’s perfectly capable of doing more conventionally entertaining flicks, like “The Wrestler.” This one falls in the former category, although the first act is fairly conventional and compelling in the manner of, say, “What Lies Beneath” or “Cold Creek Manor.” 

Yet it gets increasingly incomprehensible and tedious. You could say it starts like a Roman Polanski film, in particular “Cul-de-sac” and “Rosemary’s Baby,” but ends with the surrealism of Luis Buñuel. You’re thinking maybe home invasion à la “Desperate Hours” before the proceedings become unfathomable. Part of the fun of a movie like this is trying to figure out the symbolism and meaning. In this case, you’ll need to be up on biblical material and ecology, otherwise you’ll be lost.

So, I’m in the middle on this unique work. It’s professionally made, Jennifer is beautiful in her prime, it begins interesting enough, and the themes are unforgettable but, as a standard viewing experience, it gets dull and annoying. I never want to see it again, yet I’ll probably be pondering the metaphors the rest of my life. I respect it, but can only recommend it to those who are intrigued. It's not for everyone. 

The movie runs 2 hours, 1 minute, and was shot in Montréal and Québec. 

GRADE: B-