Page - 117 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 04/01

Review: Mother! | 117www.jrfm.eu 2018, 4/1, 117–120 Jacob Given Film Review Mother! (Darren Aronofsky, US 2017) It is customary to preface a film review with a brief synopsis. However, Dar- ren Aronofsky’s Mother! (US 2017) resists concise summarization, not because it lacks a discernable plot, but because the movie carries meaning on multiple levels. First, there is the literal meaning of the film. Jennifer Lawrence plays Mother, the wife of Him (Javier Bardem), a poet numbed by writer’s block. Lawrence spends her time attending to his needs and remodeling his fire-damaged child- hood home as Bardem struggles to find inspiration. One day, a stranger (Ed Harris) arrives on their doorstep, apparently mistaking their house for a bed and breakfast. Bardem generously offers the stranger a place to stay, but we see that Lawrence bears the brunt of the work required to offer such hospitality. The men talk as she works in the kitchen and prepares the stranger’s linens. It turns out, though, that the stranger is not the wayward traveler that he had pre- sented himself to be. Rather, he is an admirer of the poet, and he is dying. Law- rence, understandably, meets this revelation with alarm, while Bardem appears flattered and doubles down on his offer of hospitality. Soon the stranger’s wife (Michelle Pfeiffer) shows up at the door and Bardem welcomes her in, to Law- rence’s dismay. Then the strangers’ two sons arrive, quarreling over a detail in their father’s will. The quarrel quickly turns violent and results in the death of one of the sons. Bardem accompanies the family to the hospital, leaving his clearly traumatized wife behind to scrub the blood off the floor. Eventually the extended family of the stranger arrive for the funeral of the stranger’s son. Law- rence chases a couple from the master bedroom, a man verbally harasses her when she refuses his advances, and a couple sits on the not-yet-braced kitchen sink, which collapses and causes a large pipe to burst, forcing the crowd to leave the house. Then an argument between Lawrence and Bardem leads to sexual intercourse, and the first half of the movie comes to a close. The next morning, Lawrence reveals that she is pregnant (seemingly intuit- ing this information), and Bardem, overjoyed, has found the inspiration that he needs to write his masterpiece. Fast forward approximately nine months and the couple are about to celebrate the extraordinary success of Bardem’s new book with a dinner. Bardem is flattered when an adoring crowd suddenly ap- DOI: DOI: 10.25364/05.4:2018.1.10