Jennifer Lawrence at mother! Premiere
Two days before the release of his new film, “mother!,” Darren Aronofsky took to the stage of New York’s Radio City Music Hall and apologized.
“You’re all smiling and laughing now, but you’re going to hate me in about an hour-and-a-half,” he said to the audience of the film’s US debut, who, upon entry, had been handed ominous “mother’s prayer” cards.
““mother!” came from a place of intense frustration, and I really wanted to make a film not about my mother, not about your mother, but about our mother.” He then introduced Jennifer Lawrence, his girlfriend and star of the film, who graced the stage in a shimmering gold gown. It was Aronofsky’s second debut of the evening: the couple’s first public appearance.
“mother!” tells the story of a young wife (Jennifer Lawrence), known only as mother, who moves into a dilapidated country house with her husband (Javier Bardem), a famous poet battling writer’s block. Aronofsky lures us into the familiar grounds of psychological thrillers; mother begins to feel the house coming alive, the walls echoing a beating heart, before a strange visitor (Ed Harris) shows up at the door with a mysterious past. When the stranger’s wife (Michelle Pfeiffer) shows up too, the film takes a different turn, and biblical and environmental allegories come into play.
The film’s ambition must be noted, not only of Aronofsky but of his stellar cast; Lawrence takes on a flighty, passive role as mother nature herself, endlessly accommodating though abused by mankind. Michelle Pfeiffer delivers her best performance in years, bringing the sexuality and manipulation of her Eve-inspired character to life. Likewise, Kristen Wiig proves her dramatic virtuosity with a cameo as a literary lady turned warfare queen (yes, it really happens).
Aronofsky fans expecting a run-of-the-mill thriller may be surprised by the film’s pointed message, in addition to its artistic integrity; there are few moments of “Black Swan”-style cinematic thrills, and rather the film garners sympathy for mother nature as she is destroyed by insatiable mankind.
But Aronofsky doesn’t want us to lose hope. Instead, he gives us something to wish for. He quotes his muse Hubert Selby Jr., who wrote Requiem for a Dream: “By exploring the darkness, you explore the light.”