An everyday conversation between Marta and her mother turns into a tragic race against the clock when Marta receives a phone call from Iván, her six-year-old son, who is on holiday in France with his father.
“There's no denying that mother! is the thought-provoking product of a singularly ambitious artistic vision, though it may be too unwieldy for mainstream tastes.”
Mother! is what happens when a dude has an idea he thinks is brilliant and no one checks him on it.
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Michael Sragow
RTFilm Comment MagazineMar 8, 2018
[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.
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Larushka Ivan-Zadeh
RTMetro Newspaper (UK)Oct 11, 2017
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.
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Don Shanahan
RTEvery Movie Has a LessonJul 20, 2025
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.