MOTHER! (2017) Review

Mother, Home, and Destruction: The Sacred Collapse of Feminine Creation

Darren Aronofsky’s Mother! is a story about a home that at first glance is like a nightmare. But underneath, it is both mythological, sacred, and violently political. The film is not just the story of a woman (or a mother); it is an allegorical apocalypse of all the meanings that women have attributed throughout history, the traumas engraved on their bodies and homes, and their ancient connection with nature.

When viewed through a woman’s eyes, this film is not just a collection of metaphors and symbols; it becomes an emotional projection, a cinematic echo of a familiar pain.

Heaven in the House, Hell in the House

The unnamed characters in the film represent universal roles: the “mother” figure, played by Jennifer Lawrence, represents nature, the house, and the body; the “poet” played by Javier Bardem represents creative power, masculine energy, and the divine ego. The home is both a womb and a world — and soon it becomes a space that is occupied, exploited, broken, burned.

For women, “home” has historically been both a safe space and a chained identity. Aronofsky works this contradiction through the metaphor of a physical invasion: foreign guests come, break the rules, trash the house, ignore or silently control the “mother.” This means the invasion not of a home but of the woman’s “subjectivity.”

Creativity or Creation?

The “poet” character is a creator, but she never pays the “price of creation.” Her creative power is fueled by the emotional or physical decay of others. The “mother” is a being who constantly gives, repairs, heals, but is never appreciated. This is a tragic allegory of how women’s creation—birth, labor, productivity—has been celebrated and then devalued throughout history.

Here, the woman is the creator, the giver, the sacrificer. But she is not the owner of the creation. Just like nature: used, sanctified, then consumed.

The Aesthetics of Trauma: Camera, Rhythm and Overwhelm

The visuality of the film is one of the most powerful tools that constructs uncanniness. The camera almost constantly never leaves the “mother’s” shoulder or face. This locks the viewer into her psychological world. The rhythm of the film gradually accelerates, suffocates, and beats. Time and space are warped, reality is fragmented.

These cinematic techniques do not only show a woman losing control; they make her experience it. While watching the film, a familiar feeling comes into play for most female viewers: everyone wants something from you, but no one hears you.

Religious Allegory or Female Allegory?

It is possible to read the film as a religious allegory: Bardem’s character is God, Lawrence’s is nature or the Virgin Mary, the guests are Adam and Eve… But if these allegories are limited to male-centered interpretations, the most important layer of the film is missed:

Mother! in fact, it is the narrative of a centuries-long occupation of women's bodies, labor, love and existence.

Women are not just mothers. They are homes, source water, fertile soil. But the film tells how this fertility is exploited, ignored, and forced to be recreated. They give birth, they give, they lose — but the "poet" still wants to write.

Ashes and a Heart Remain

At the end of the film, the "mother" is completely exhausted. Her house burns, she burns, her soul comes out. But the "poet" waits for another woman to create a new one. Another woman can take the place of the woman, because what is taken from her is not personal, but functional: her heart.

Aronofsky's film Mother! is a visual elegy that tells how a woman is sanctified and destroyed at the same time. When viewed through the eyes of a female critic, this film is not just a story, but the cry of a silence that has lasted for generations.

My Score 7.5/10

Fin