By Megan Bianco
One of the most bizarre and bewildering releases to come out of a major Hollywood studio is this September’s mother! from filmmaker Darren Aronofsky and distributed by Paramount Pictures.
When the trailer first dropped, a lot of movie fans were intrigued: A-list cast consisting of Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Michelle Pfeiffer, Ed Harris and Domhnall Gleeson, eerie music score by Jóhan Jóhannsson, eye-candy worthy cinematography, and what appeared to be from the editing of the promos, a psychological suspense/thriller. Instead, we got an overtly ham-fisted metaphorical, allegorical arthouse flick without much of a plot. And the most irritating thing is the Jóhannsson score wasn’t even included in the final film. But how on earth did Aronofsky’s artsy hot mess get greenlit by a major film studio?
Well, let’s look inside the history of the promotion and release first. Just based on the trailer, we see a couple (Lawrence and Bardem) get uninvited house guests (Harris and Pfeiffer) and then even more uninvited guests show up to haunt Lawrence, but intrigue Bardem. Sounds almost like a drama surrounding a cult a la Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby (1968)—which Aronofsky originally stated was an influence on his mother!
Perhaps that is how he first pitched the movie to Paramount, as cult themed films like Rosemary and The Stepford Wives (1975) did well in theaters and still hold up. But the problem is mother! is nothing like either of those films in terms of a straight-forward narrative. Then I wondered if maybe Aronofsky got Lawrence and Bardem on board before he went to the studio and sold it based on the two leads, which would make sense. But even all these Oscar friendly actors couldn’t get people interested in the film.
Mother! not only has Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer badgering Jennifer Lawrence, but random shots of a heart beating, random scenes with random strangers invading Lawrence’s personal space, a balls-to-the-wall sequence of a house riot with explosions and gunshots, and a rather grotesque scene involving a newborn baby. None of the characters even have real names.
Why give this type of movie a wide release in 3,000 theaters on opening weekend? This whole feature screams ‘limited release in LA and NYC,’ similar to Nicolas Winding Refn’s The Neon Demon last year, which also was polarizing. Mother! opened to measly number three at the box office without much competition outside of the mega-success of Warner Bros.’ It, mixed reviews, and now has the distinction of being one of only 19 movies with a grade ‘F’ on CinemaScore. Financially, this was a terrible decision with odd marketing schemes, although to be honest, there really is no easy way to market this film.
Paramount actually did release a public statement supporting their decision to distribute mother! to general audiences, claiming they support all types of original films. Which is fine and admirable…But viewers will be going into an Aronofsky film either expecting something experimental and avant-garde like his Pi (1998) and The Fountain (2006), or his conventional Requiem for a Dream (2000) and The Wrestler (2008). Instead we get a completely different genre than what was promoted.
No matter the how high quality the movie is, an art film with allegories to Genesis, environmental awareness, celebrity worship and womanizing tendencies all within two hours is not going to appeal to a mass audience. All I know is now I’ll never be able to look at a certain SNL alumna again after her surprise cameo with a .45.
Megan Bianco is a Southern California-based movie reviewer and content writer with a degree from California State University Northridge.
