Thursday, September 21, 2017

Mother! (2017, Darren Aronofsky)

I was excited before watching this film. Would I see it as a masterpiece or would I call it one of the worst films of this century.I hoped I could at least enjoy it rudimentally, but I have to think again. Mother! is indeed bad and beyond any repair.
It has been noticed before that there is use of theological imagery in the script. The two protagonists are called Him and Mother, although at the beginning of the film she is still without children. Him is a writer with a writer's block and possible also ED. While Him cannot get things done, Mother is trying to create "a paradise".
One evening a stranger calls. He has mistaken their home for a B&B. Him invites, although Mother is not so happy about this invitation. The stranger is called Man and claims to be a big fan of Him's works. Man, quickly behaves, as if he was living there. His wife, yes, of course, she is Woman, arrives and then Younger Brother and Oldest Son. Yes, we have understood that they are Cain and Abel.
During the course of the film we also understand Aronofsky's revisionist view: man creates through destruction, women are the fertile soil. This is very misogynist and revanchist. Yes, there is also the self-important ecological message: the destruction of the paradise that Mother had prepared with so much labour.
As more fans of Him arrive at the house, the more they destruct. At last Mother takes revenge and starts a general Apocalypse.
It seems to me that the apocalyptic show-down was mostly like a deus ex machina. The poor script could be read on various levels, but they are not properly developed. So they are cut off instead. Actually a very lazy solution.
We see good actors in mediocre performances, because the poor script doesn't give them much to work with.
This begs the question: Is this serious or maybe a sick joke? I don't see any ironic distance, so I fear that Aronofsky wants us to see this as an ambitious contribution to pressing ecological issues.
0/10


No comments:

Post a Comment