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Review: Mother! (Darren Aronofsky, 2017) ★★★★

<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">Before going to the theater to see Darren Aronofsky’s <em>Mother&excl;<&sol;em>&comma; I thought I knew what to expect&period; I had read a very brief synopsis and watched a short teaser trailer&comma; so I was anticipating a generic psychological thriller that could only be made better by superb direction&period; Even twenty minutes into the film&comma; I thought I knew what was coming&period; I squirmed in my seat&comma; worrying that I had spent the price of a ticket on a complete dud and a surprising misfire from an otherwise brilliant filmmaker&period; I could not have been more wrong&period; While <em>Mother&excl;<&sol;em> does has a few minor faults&comma; it is nonetheless a fascinating&comma; disturbing&comma; and altogether surreal viewing experience&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">As I realized after watching the film&comma; reading about the plot does little to help you understand it&comma; but I will provide a brief synopsis nonetheless&period; <em>Mother&excl;<&sol;em> begins with a recently burned down house that is suddenly brought back to its former state&period; Mother &lpar;Jennifer Lawrence&rpar; awakens to find her bed empty&comma; and begins looking for Him &lpar;Javier Bardem&rpar;&period; He is a celebrated writer who is currently struggling to find inspiration&period; Mother&comma; who is rather quiet and timid&comma; has a special connection with the house&comma; even visualizing a beating heart within its walls&comma; but she is sometimes dizzied and frightened by these images&period; One day&comma; Man &lpar;Ed Harris&rpar; shows up at the house unannounced&comma; and despite being a complete stranger&comma; is welcomed with open arms by Him&period; Mother is suspicious of their house guest&comma; and is disturbed by her husband’s unquestioning trust in Man&period; The next day&comma; Man’s wife&comma; Woman &lpar;Michelle Pfeiffer&rpar;&comma; appears at the door&comma; and again is welcomed by Him&comma; despite Mother’s disapproval&period; While Man and Woman’s stay at the house becomes increasingly intrusive&comma; Mother begins to question her husband’s devotion to her&comma; and as more houseguests arrive&comma; the situation spirals completely out of her control&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">While watching <em>Mother&excl;<&sol;em>&comma; I was convinced that I understood it&semi; I thought I knew where the story was going and could more or less predict how it would end&period; Aronofsky takes you down this path intentionally&period; The film begins like any other psychological thriller&comma; albeit a bit more surreal than most&period; The audience is made to identify with a likable&comma; seemingly ineffectual character&comma; whose life is suddenly turned upside down by intruders&period; Her situation is made even more frustrating for her &lpar;and the audience&rpar; because she seems to be the only one who notices the small injustices and disturbances&semi; the off-hand comments and rude behavior seem to be directed entirely at Mother&comma; while all of the guests’ affection and charm is directed at Him&period; Her husband remains blissfully unaware&comma; and even when faced with the reality of the situation&comma; he seems to value his guests’ interests over his own wife’s wellbeing&period; It is this aspect of the story that&comma; at first&comma; I found most frustrating and disappointing&period; It seemed as though I were watching a subpar thriller&comma; with a laughably predictable escalation of wrongs that would eventually drive Mother over the edge&period; It has been done in dozens of other films&comma; but at some point I started doubting my initial judgements&period; The injustices committed on Mother by her unwanted houseguests became so egregious and implausible&comma; that I thought for a time that it must be a comedy&period; Every guest brought more torment to Mother&comma; and she was too meek to do anything about it&period; Even when she did lose her temper&comma; she didn’t seem to have any real effect&period; All of her screams fell on deaf ears&period; It wasn’t until a little more than halfway through the film that I started to realize exactly what I was watching&period; It is certainly not a comedy&comma; or if it is&comma; then it is a very dark one&period; At the most basic level&comma; it is about the destructive nature of the male ego&period; For the sake of their own vanity&comma; men are willing to take everything from a woman&comma; and when she is completely used up&comma; they feel compelled to move on to the next one&period; The film is also riddled with biblical symbolism&comma; with obvious representations of Cain and Abel&comma; and the Mary Magdalene&comma; among others&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;983" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-983" style&equals;"width&colon; 800px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-983 size-large" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;10&sol;Mother-TA-1024x768&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"800" height&equals;"600" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-983" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Mother has a special connection with the home that she built&comma; and her life is intrinsically linked with domesticity &lpar;Mother&excl;&comma; 2017&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">It is also important to note that the story and themes are overtly feminist in nature&period; Some might find that designation troubling&comma; considering it comes from the mind of a male director&comma; but I think this is part of what makes it so truthful&period; Who better to understand the destructive male ego than someone who possesses it&quest; In <em>Mother&excl;<&sol;em>&comma; we see a female character who is expected to be quiet and subservient&period; Her place is in the home&comma; and to some degree&comma; she is even physically &lpar;or at the very least psychologically&rpar; connected to the house itself&period; She is unable to leave&comma; and from the time of Mother’s &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;birth&comma;” she is only given meaning through her connection to the house and to Him&period; She is not permitted to have an effective voice&comma; so the more Mother tries to fight back against injustice&comma; the more severe the injustices become&period; When Mother finally snaps at one point and attacks the mob of intruders&comma; she is met with violence&comma; and the crowd spits an endless stream of misogynistic vitriol at her&period; But in the end&comma; it is Mother’s husband who takes everything from her&period; He uses her until she has nothing left to give&comma; and even then he asks for more&period; The film is brutal in both its graphic violence and the unhindered view of forced subordination&period; In the film&comma; Mother comes into existence&comma; is defined and controlled by her connection to men and domesticity&comma; and then once they have taken everything from her&comma; her only choice is to sacrifice everything she has for Him&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">The only real issue I have with this film is its casting&period; Jennifer Lawrence’s performance feels out of place&comma; and at times her reactions to things feel unintentionally comical&period; Even with her world crumbling around her&comma; she offers little reaction to anything&comma; and simply stares blankly at all of the wrongs committed in her home&period; A better actress could have provided the subtle nuances required for such a complex role&comma; but sadly Jennifer Lawrence just wasn’t right for the part&period; Otherwise&comma; the acting was superb&comma; even if the characters were completely baffling more often than not&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">It goes without saying that this film is difficult to watch at times&period; At first&comma; it is difficult to watch because it seems so ludicrous&comma; and later because of its extreme violence and unflinching portrayal of the pain and suffering men inflict on women&period; Some will find <em>Mother&excl;<&sol;em> too frustrating to watch&comma; others will find it too disturbing&period; Nonetheless&comma; I think it is a fantastic film&comma; and an important one&period; <em>Mother&excl;<&sol;em> is definitely polarizing&comma; but it will also prove to be a crowning achievement in Aronofsky’s career&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Rating&colon; &starf;&starf;&starf;&starf; out of 5<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Mother&excl;<&sol;em> is available to purchase via Amazon <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;amazon&period;com&sol;gp&sol;product&sol;B075L2B2CY&sol;ref&equals;as&lowbar;li&lowbar;qf&lowbar;sp&lowbar;asin&lowbar;il&lowbar;tl&quest;ie&equals;UTF8&amp&semi;tag&equals;mjones34880c-20&amp&semi;camp&equals;1789&amp&semi;creative&equals;9325&amp&semi;linkCode&equals;as2&amp&semi;creativeASIN&equals;B075L2B2CY&amp&semi;linkId&equals;128b35138a4750790981524f3f4aaeb6">here<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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