Investigative Blog

Why is Mother! Considered a bad/controversial film?

Darren Aronofsky's Mother! Is a movie made to keep the audience both entertained and uneasy. The film is a tango between what is right and wrong in the marriage between unnamed characters (which represent God, Earth, and mankind). Mother! follows some of the same tropes as used in another infamous film Rosemary’s Baby which is where some of the hatred towards the film that supposedly “poured out of” Aronofsky comes from (James). The movie is lengthy and tries to accomplish a portrayal of the blurry line between reality and delusion; something that 2010’s Black Swan did exceptionally well in. But instead of accomplishing that goal, Aronofsky leads the movie down a long dreary path of unsettling emotion.

Viewers complain that there is no real direction, “It’s enough to say that the episode . . . is full of action and is essentially meaningless” (James). Most of the movie seems to be described as lacking, and is caught up in a lot of metaphors and symbolism that don’t exactly explain much about what is happening. Shock-factor is used in this movie to provide the suspense necessary to entice the audience just enough to stick through the rest of the film. 

With all of the allegories about Christianity’s God being so uncaring and destructive to the movie’s personified ‘Mother’ Earth created controversy with Christians. Rightfully so, the underlying disrespect in the movie between the main characters could easily be taken even worse than it might have been meant. It’s one thing to have an idea for a film that has possibly offensive or insulting topics, but the execution of said film is what matters most. That being said, many critics happened to enjoy the movie saying that its “. . . layered and dense subtext . . .  comments on subjects as wide-ranging as love, sacrifice, organized religion and hero worship” (Cooley). Yes, this movie does include those things-- very obviously at that, but the way it is done and what is included within those listed themes disturbs Christians and non-Christians alike. 

It is hard to explain the amount of obscene content in this movie without a description of it. The scene that probably drew the line for a lot of viewers was when Jennifer Lawrence’s character gives birth to a newborn, the husband ‘God’ insists for her ‘Mother Earth’ to share this child with the unpredictable followers of his-- she refuses, but the child is snatched from her by the husband and tossed into the crowd of people. The baby soon after is accidentally killed, then eaten. But to look further into why Aronofsky would choose to include such a terrible scene is FOR the shock factor of it, and to create a memorable moment that would provoke discussion whether positive or negative for years to come. The acts portrayed in the movie were bold but that is what was wanted, the attention from the controversy (Cooley).

Some positives of this movie and the director’s attention to detail, are the non-harmful metaphors used for Earth. Jennifer Lawrence played a beautiful woman; she had grace and a purely untainted appearance. ‘Mother Earth’ throughout the movie showed how much she was willing to sacrifice for her relationship to last with her husband, she was constantly giving up what she cared for to see him pleased. When her husband gained an unruly and cultish following, she offered up anything she could for them to prosper-- but when she was unwilling to provide anything else it was as if she hadn’t done anything for them in the first place and all hell broke loose between both the followers and her husband. That, however, could lead to an analysis of misogyny of putting a giving woman through hell just for the sake of her husband’s popularity-- but also express what women have to sacrifice when in a marriage or being a mother (Gleiberman). Thinking of it like it has no misogynistic undertones, this is a perfect example of what the human population does to the Earth. Humans expecting there to be an unlimited amount of whatever they need, despite the noticeable damage it does to the planet. 

There is also the use of the house they’re all in as what I feel is the space of the Earth, and how overpopulation affects it. Over the duration of the film, the house starts off with a clean appearance-- then in just a short amount of time is in shambles. So, Aronofsky has a very talented approach to these subjects-- brave and willing to go the extra mile just to make his audience think after the movie has ended. 

Works Cited

James, Caryn. “Film Review: Mother! Is a ‘Pretentious Mess.’” BBC Culture, 24 Feb. 2022, www.bbc.com/culture/article/20170914-film-review-mother-is-a-pretentious-mess.

Patrick Cooley, cleveland.com. “‘Mother!’ Is so Controversial Paramount Had to Defend Its Decision to Release the Movie.” Cleveland, 18 Sept. 2017, www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2017/09/why_is_mother_so_controversial.html.

Gleiberman, Owen. “Variety.” Variety, 6 Oct. 2017, variety.com/2017/film/reviews/mother-review-jennifer-lawrence-venice-film-festival-1202545924.