If you are looking for Fall’s oddest, darkest and sure to be most talked about movie, “Mother!” just might be it. The film premiered last Sunday night at Tiff 2017, and it hits theaters wide today. The film’s star Jennifer Lawrence, and it’s director Darren Aronofsky, talked to reporters at a press conference during the festival to give them a little bit of an insight into the film.
“Mother!” is the story about an ideal couple (played by Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem) who find their relationship tested when a pair of uninvited guests (Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer) arrive at their home. To tell you anything else about the film would be be kin to spoiling it, although Lawrence didn’t have any problems telling a room full of reporters that the film is an allegory. She also called it a huge biblical metaphor, yet a completely unique idea. She doesn’t believe that is a spoiler though, and she thinks it would be a shame if you didn’t know at least a little something about the film before you see it.
If you are familiar with Aronofsky’s previous body of work, including Black Swan, Requiem For A Dream and The Wrestler, you know his films typically are ones that get people talking afterwards. He crosses a lot of lines, and typically has to fight with the studio to make his film his way. None of that is overly surprising though. What is surprising is how quickly he can put his thoughts to paper. He admitted that he wrote the initial script in five days, although it did go through a lot of rewriting to get his ideas to work on film. He also relied on his actors a lot to get the feeling of the characters right. In this case the principal actors, including Lawrence and Javier Bardem, rehearsed for three months to perfect their characters. He’s also a perfectionist who likes to create something unique, because he is tired of seeing the same thing over and over again.
Lawrence also called the experience unique. she claimed that the movie pulled her apart and put her back together again. She wasn’t just talking about mentally either, as she actually was physically hurt on set, including dislocating a rib. She enjoyed working with the cast, including Michelle Pfeiffer whom she called warm and normal. It took two days for Lawrence to get used to being on set with her. As for filming such a dark movie, Lawrence said she likes to shake it off and not dwell on the bad place of the movie. The only time they were really serious was between action and cut. The rest of the time they were just having fun.
While Lawrence does say that Aronofsky must have serious psychological problems for having come up with “Mother!” in the first place, she does admit the film is a masterpiece. And with it being released this week we will soon see if audiences agree with her.
Photo by George Pimentel WireImage TIFF07
