‘Mother!’ is a very well-made movie, in terms of its powerful cinematographic language and it’s puzzling allegories. You’ll definitely love it if you are familiar with the metaphors and symbols in Abrahamic religions especially in Christian theology but for sure it will upset a lot of people who were expecting to watch just a thriller or horror movie.
Everyone can get different messages from a movie. What I first got was the message that forgiving others was the only way to break a cycle of violence whether physical or otherwise. In the first part of the movie, I had a sense that the story is a voyage to a very painful mind of a poet who couldn't find a way to forgive the others who harmed him. Then I started thinking that the movie is about the formation of a Cult leader and his followers surrounding him. But when I saw the second part, wait a minute, I realized that it’s very much deeper than that.
‘The film opens with a woman standing in the midst of crackling flames. Her flesh burns to a crisp as screams are heard in the background.
We then see a man, "Him" (Javier Bardem), place a crystal object in his bedroom. The house then changes from burnt and rundown to completely refurbished. A young woman, "Mother" (Jennifer Lawrence), materializes in his bed and calls out for Him, her husband. Mother walks through the house until she finds Him, and they kiss.
Him is a noted poet suffering from writer's block following the loss of his first wife. Mother is trying to paint one of the rooms in the house using different colors. She walks toward the wall and sees a vision of a beating heart within the walls.
Someone knocks on the couple's front door. Him welcomes the stranger, "Man" (Ed Harris), into his house. Him is very polite to the Man, but Mother is not quite comfortable with his presence. Man was directed to the house under the impression that it was some kind of bed-and-breakfast. Him shows Man his office with his written works, and Man admits to being a fan of Him's work. Him spends most of the time chatting with Man, telling Mother it's nice to have someone to talk to who enjoys his work, despite Mother saying she loves his work too. Still, she allows Man to stay. However, Man has violent coughing fits that Him tends to. Mother later sees Man puking in the toilet with Him standing over Man. Mother notices a chunk of flesh missing from Man's ribs, but Him covers it with his hand.’
The next day another unexpected visitor just shows up at the door. It now is the ‘Woman.’ She bothers the Mother questioning whether the Mother wants to have a child or not. Mother warns her not to go to ‘His’ room and touch the Crystal. The very next day, The Man and The Woman touches and breaks the crystal. Mother asks them to leave but instead they go to another room to get intimate. The next day when both Him and the Mother decides them to leave, their son just appears in the house and then their younger son. They start to fight for their fathers will and one of their son kills the other. Blood opens a whole in the wooden floor. Mother gets exhausted. Then Him leaves the Mother alone in the house to go to the hospital with the unexpected guests.
Sometime later the Mother feels that she is pregnant. This stimulates Him and He starts writing again. He finishes his work. Mother reads it and loves it. When they get prepared to celebrate it, his fans start to appear in the house and after a little while thousands of them pervade the entire house. They start stealing stuff from the House and destroying it. The Mother gets exhausted. The people start beating her up and cursing her. Then massive blast goes through the House between the different sects and groups of fans of Him. In this turmoil, Mother gives a birth. ‘Him wants to hold his son, but Mother refuses to let him go. She demands that Him send the fans away. Mother sits in the office for a whole day holding her son until she falls asleep. When she wakes up, her baby is gone. Him brings their son to show to the crowd. They start passing the baby around, even as he pees on them. The crowd then breaks the baby's neck. Mother hears it and frantically tries running to the front of the room. When she gets there, she sees her baby has been horribly mutilated, and the fans are eating him. Mother screams in fury, causing the house's foundation to crack. She grabs a piece of glass and starts stabbing and slashing the fans, until their leader grabs her and whacks her over the head with a candlestick. The fans start brutally beating Mother and tearing her clothes off, calling her a whore and a bitch. Him runs in to stop them, holding his wife tearfully. Mother screams at Him that they killed their baby.’
"We must try to find a way to forgive them all", says ‘Him’.
He shows the Mother that their followers are upset about what they did. However, Mother doesn’t forgive them and blew the house to punish them all. Him says that he has to start from the beginning again. ‘Him carries Mother's body out of the basement. She asks Him who he is. He says his name is Eli. When she asks what he wants, he says he wants her love. She tells Him he can have it. He digs his hands into her chest and pulls out her heart, causing her body to crumble to pieces.
Him squeezes the heart to reveal another crystal object like the one he had before. He places it in the same spot in his office while chuckling to himself. The house once again turns from destroyed to brand new. A young woman then forms in the bed, calling out for her husband.’
What a story right?
As far as I understood, Him actually represents God, the creator! Mother represents the earth. Mother gives form and maintains the structure. God first invites Adam (the old man). Then from Adam's rib God creates Eve. This is the scene in which Man's rib was wounded and he was throwing up in the movie.
Adam and Eve touched the forbidden tree and ate the forbidden fruit in the Paradise as The Man and The Women broke the forbidden crystal. This is the original sin which makes all the humans sinful since they are born according the Christian theology.
Then we see the story of Abel and Cane. Cane kills Abel. Then mother's house, the earth, is populated with various religions and various ideologies. All of which pray God (or Him). But they become enemies of each other. Some of them fight for the name of God and some destroy the earth. And the story continues. The way the humanity is heading, Mother earth is eventually doomed. Since the people are not forgiven, the only way to break this cycle of violence and curse never becomes possible.
Who is responsible for the original sin? Serpent or Lucifer? Well, he is not in the movie at this time.
We know that Adam blames the lapse on Eve, Eve on the serpent, as far as the story goes, the serpent was evil.
However, what is now “fallen,” in the movie, because of the “original” sin in Eden, is human nature not the Serpent or Lucifer. But were the humans were bound and compelled to the original sin and failure? Is this one of the leading messages of the movie?
"We must try to find a way to forgive them all", says ‘Him,’ remember?
And remember the Genesis description of creation of Humans: "God said, Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness."
In sum, as far as I understand, without the help of God, the Human beings will not be able to escape from the punishment of the Mother Earth.
A fundamental change which can break this circle of punishment only depends on the help of God. This is another powerful metaphorical message given in the movie, I guess.
Well as I said in the beginning, Darren Aronofsky's ‘Mother!’ will upset many. But there are many positive messages that we can get as well. Let’s hope that world leaders, too, would be more considerate about our beautiful earth and nature.