To talk about this film, I will have to put forth my interpretation of what it is. Darren Aronofsky’s new film, is (probably) about mother Earth or mother Nature, as we call it. This is a very basic association, yes, and there might be a wholly different religious (biblical) context to it, but I feel that what I have taken in, might make some sense after at least one reading of the film. This is the kind of film that might have way more than the single unanimous interpretation.

So mother! intimately personifies the term “mother nature” and makes for one overwhelming ride of metaphors. (Man) Javier Bardem is the artist inspired by mother nature. The house they live in is like the manifestation of their love. He understands the heart of it and writes a story that reaches far and wide. He lets people in, and gives them far more leg space than warranted, without consenting mother. People love his work, they worship it, and the fandom form factions (read: religions) of their own. These groups get into loggerhead zones with each other – read, war. They worship and in the process, destroy the child (read: nature) given to them by the mother. So far the metaphors are just commentary, the ending is where it becomes worldview/opinion. If nature decides to blow up itself, we’d still look for it’s core to restore balance, and then the same cycle/story will repeat…

Going by this metaphor, I find this film posing an existential question over humans. Are we really invited here? Are we giving back what’s given to us in this place? These very loose thoughts play on my mind as I think about the film, but do they really mean anything to me? Maybe not, I may not be impacted by these questions, but sure have I been engrossed.

Aronofsky makes it really easy to lose yourself inside the world of the film, which is this house in the middle of no man’s land. He establishes the intricacies of the house through mother’s (Jennifer Lawrence, also none of the characters are named) point-of-view. We only know as much as she does. We, along with her, experience the crumbling down of the place she built by herself. She suffers throughout, extravagantly. It is painful to watch her hurting. Even though it is easy to root for her (she’s the only positively shaded character), Lawrence makes the journey worthwhile.

Well I don’t know if my interpretation is even going in the right direction, but the film did speak to me in the way it held me. It mounts what it wants to say on a huge scale, and even going through something so surreally dramatic is a memorable experience by itself. Darren Aronofsky is the kind of filmmaker who can make you like what you are uncertain of. I enjoyed reading into this film.