Mother! is what happens when a dude has an idea he thinks is brilliant and no one checks him on it.

[Darren] Aronofsky wants mother! to have the intensity and inner logic of a sweaty nightmare. But it's a fake cinematic fever dream-the kind made by a director so self-conscious that he's always checking his own temperature.

Ultimately, you may be left pondering not so much the allegory as to why [Darren] Aronofsky would want to push not just his audience but his girlfriend through such an extreme wringer.

Metaphorical imagery and symbolism are everywhere, and the number of literal and figurative interpretations of what is implicitly or explicitly transpiring can kill as many brain cells as it multiplies.