Review Mother (2017)

Mother! (stylized as mother!)[a] is a 2017 American psychological horror film written and directed by Darren Aronofsky, and stars Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer.

The plot follows a young woman whose tranquil life with her husband at their country home is disrupted by the arrival of a mysterious couple.

The film was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 74th Venice International Film Festival and premiered on September 5, 2017.

It was released in the United States on September 15, 2017, by Paramount Pictures.

Upon release, the film received generally positive, albeit somewhat polarized reviews, with critics praising the acting and Aronofsky's direction, though some criticized its disturbing and allegorical narrative as well as an excessive use of close-up shots.


Cast[

• Jennifer Lawrence as Mother
• Javier Bardem as Him
• Ed Harris as Man
• Michelle Pfeiffer as Woman
• Domhnall Gleeson as Oldest Son
• Brian Gleeson as Younger Brother
• Kristen Wiig as Herald
• Jovan Adepo as Cupbearer
• Stephen McHattie as Zealot

Aronofsky’s “mother!” Gets An F CinemaScore





The CinemaScore, the long-running audience exit poll survey of filmgoing audiences on opening weekend, has given Darren Aronofsky’s “mother!” one of its rare distinctions – a failing grade of ‘F’.

Often seen as the public equivalent of the critics’ Tomato-meter aggregate score, the CinemaScore proves often not so much a marker of quality as it is that an audience’s expectations were met and satisfied.

Big crowd-pleasing films that make clear who their audience is, what they’re about and deliver to that crowd will get an A+. In recent times that has included such films as “Hidden Figures,” “Patriot’s Day” and “Girls Trip”.

Films that challenge, dare or risk upsetting their audience often fare worse – sometimes far worse. With an ad campaign that was deliberately vague, the film is deliberately provocative and has mostly gone over well with critics. Even so, it has caused division and discussion amongst them.

It was always going to have a rough time with a general crowd, but “mother!” marks the first ‘F’ since 2012’s “Killing Them Softly” and one of only a dozen or so films to receive that grade which has been put on such films as Soderbergh’s “Solaris” remake, “Wolf Creek,” the Nic Cage-led “The Wicker Man” remake, Richard Kelly’s “The Box,” and spoof comedy “Disaster Movie”.

The reviews seem to be having an impact as “mother!” opened to a dismal $3.1 million on opening day and is headed for an $8 million opening weekend – the worst wide launch of star Jennifer Lawrence’s career.

The film is set to be trounced by “IT” in its second weekend which is geared for another $59 million, while the Dylan O’Brien-led “American Assassin” looks set to garner around $15.5 million.

Aronofsky Responds To “mother!” F CinemaScore





Though there are numerous films out, only two are really in the big conversation at the moment – “IT” with its box-office success and Darren Aronofsky’s “mother!” due to its divisive reaction.

The latter film has both its defenders and detractors and has earned the dubious honor of being one of only nineteen films in history to receive an F-grade CinemaScore – a marker more of failed expectation than a bash of its quality.

Speaking with The Frame, Aronofsky says he believes that there’s no way this film could’ve received any other score as it’s a ‘punk movie’ designed to provoke. He tells the site:

“What’s interesting about that is, like, how if you walk out of this movie are you not going to give it an ‘F?’ It’s a punch. It’s a total punch. And I realize that we were excited by that. We wanted to make a punk movie and come at you. And the reason I wanted to come is because I was very sad and I had a lot of anguish and I wanted to express it.

Filmmaking is such a hard journey. People are constantly saying no to you. And to wake up every morning and get out of bed and to face all those no’s, you have to be willing to really believe in something.

And that’s what I look for in my collaborators and what I pitched the actors I said, Look, this isn’t going to be a popularity contest. We’re basically holding up a mirror to what’s going on. All of us are doing this. But that final chapter hasn’t been written and, hopefully, things can change. And, to go back, the fact that it’s going down right now and things are really falling apart in a way that is really scary.

It’s scary when you talk to the people who are studying this and thinking about this and then you have other people who basically believe in the power of an iPhone that they can communicate to 35 million people in a blink of an eye, yet they don’t believe in science in other ways. You know, which is as proven as gravity at this point, really.

It has as many people believe in it as believe in gravity. And it scares me and it’s time to start screaming. So I wanted to howl. And this was my howl. And some people are not going to want to listen to it. That’s cool.

The full interview makes for a fascinating listening, check it out in full at The Frame.

Mother! reviewed by Mark Kermode