mother! – Rated R – 2 hrs. 1 min. 

mother! – Rated R – 2 hrs. 1 min. 

Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris & Michelle Pfeiffer

Writer & Director Darren Aronofsky (REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, NOAH, BLACK SWAN) takes us deep into the psychosis of one married couple, causing us to examine our own relationships, as we ponder what just truly happened…THIS IS mother!

Living in the country with her poet husband (Javier Bardem), the sweet and tranquil life of doting wife ~ and soon to be mother ~ (Jennifer Lawrence), is cast into upheaval when two total strangers (Ed Harris and his wife, played by Michelle Pfeiffer) take up residence in their home.

As these living arrangements become more peculiar and uncomfortable with each passing day, mother needs for these “so called fans” of her husband’s work to move on, so that her and her husband can get back to focusing on each other, their home, and their future…

Caught between what she needs, and all the madness that seems to be enveloping her life, and her home…mother soon comes to the realization that her love for her husband, and their home, may never translate to fulfilling his needs, nor his desires…

I give mother! A rating between MUST SEE ON THE BIG SCREEN & WAIT AND CATCH THIS FILM ON DVD: Aronofsky has managed to produce a psychological thriller that is so intense, so disturbing, yet so mesmerizingly beautiful too, that you will find yourself being sucked into the deepness of its ultimate power~ whether you want to, or not!   Dark and unnerving, mother! has a very unconventional, yet almost ingenious storyline as well. Lawrence’s performance is so unsettling and extremely uncomfortable to view, yet at times entrancing ~ all at the same time ~ I have a feeling Oscar will be calling her name again come awards season. While Bardem’s performance as the charming poet with writer’s block, isn’t really anything that we haven’t seen from him before. Harris and Pfeiffer’s performances are dead-on too ~ no pun intended ~ as the bizarre couple with way to many issues to address them all, within this two hour film. And as conventional as mother! seems to start out ~ hold on to your seat ~because you are going to be blown away by all the madness that is about to take over. I found myself wanting to rush back into the theater to catch another glimpse of this disturbing film, as there is so much unsettling material throughout almost every inch, I felt I needed to view it again, just to get an innate sense of what truly just happened! Thus, leading me to suggest, that if you like psychological thrillers, and are a fan of craziness at its finest,  then by all means, catch mother! this weekend at a theater near you. But, if you find yourself as disturbed and unsure of what just happened when you leave the theater as I was, please remember, I warned you!!!

Kathy Kaiser