Darren Aronofsky can be called many things but dull certainly isn’t in his vocabulary. MOTHER! Is his latest offering the blends the borders of arthouse drama with elements of horror but this creation is more of a monster akin to FRANKENSTEIN than the wallflower pastiche most Jennifer Lawrence fans would expect.

 

The loose story follows a young woman’s (Lawrence) love for her husband (Javier Bardem) tested when a new couple enter their lives (Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer).

 

That’s the official synopsis but if it’s a coherent storyline that shows the marital breakdown of a couple on the brink of a crisis, then there are better films out there. While MOTHER! has a central storyline for which the unfolding events are focussed on, Aronofsky’s latest is something much bigger.

 

The performances of Lawrence who’s pained victim is stretched throughout is proof that she is one of Hollywood’s great actresses an one who can rise above the stereotypes teen in danger she has been famed for. Pitted against the always show stealing Bardem and hardcore veterans Pfeiffer and Harris, the four deliver some standout performances in a film that is as painful to watch as it is for those at the centre of the unfolding chaos.

 

To call MOTHER! a comparison of ROSEMARY’S BABY meets THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST may be a spoiler but it’s a comparison that remains as ambiguous as the film itself. There are moments in MOTHER! that are jaw-droppingly chilling and it captures some of the most barbaric scenes in cinematic history. What the film divulges into in its final act is sheer frantic terror and the chaos that enwraps Lawrence’s troubled wife is the closest any of us will get to madness and that unnerving separation of grounded reality and something greater extends from the screen to the audience as many viewers will leave wondering what it is that has truly been witnessed.

 

MOTHER! fails to deliver a literal narrative and in its final chapter descends into a chaotic nightmare of metaphors that question any motive that came before it. As a “movie”, Aronofsky neither provides a cohesive storyline nor any subjective meaning. Like a fine piece of art it is best looked at with an open mind and without foresight. As you exit the film, the realisation that this is not the film it’s been advertised (forget any thought of home invasion thriller) but instead is a surprising feature that has somehow been commissioned as mainstream cinema and garnered an unaware audience to view a seminal piece of art.

 

Where MOTHER! will detract viewers is for those expecting a straight narrative film with a clear beginning, middle and end. Ironically, all three are captured in the two hour run time but the most important thing to remember is that this is not a film, it is an allegoric work of art that has more in common with a painting on the walls of the Tate than a video store as each character, each scenes, and every piece of the puzzle has deeper meaning and it’s this unravelling of the puzzle which will leave you wanting more.

 

This will not please everybody but where people fail to capture what Aronofsky has painted is a multi-tiered piece of art that will remain as one of the decades greatest pieces of film.