What the critics are saying about Darren Aronofsky's completely mad/genius Mother!
The first screenings for the Jennifer Lawrence thriller have equalled terrified and confused reviewers
The first reviews for Jennifer Lawrence’s new film Mother! are out and critics are seriously impressed. And incredibly disturbed.
Many were quick to praise Darren Aronofsky’s new “hellish” thriller, with some arguing it's the director's darkest work yet – Vanity Fair claims “It makes Black Swan look like an episode of Murder, She Wrote”.
That isn’t surprising considering the plot: Mother! follows an unnamed woman (Lawrence) and her frustrated artist husband (Javier Bardem), as their remote mansion is plagued by a series of creepy visitors.
Yet however harrowing the story, most are in agreement that the cast – in particular, J-Law – are captivating throughout.
The Hollywood Reporter writes, “There’s certainly no faulting the actors, who, with the exception of the excellent and always audience-engaging Lawrence, all trigger a significant measure of creepiness.”
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And Time magazine says: “The main reason to keep watching is Lawrence, receptive and radiant.”
But apart from Lawrence’s performance, most critics left the cinema asking one question: what just happened?
The Playlist asserts: “The only way to warn you without spoiling is to say that foolhardy is the soul who believes that, having witnessed what you’ve just witnessed, the film cannot possibly get any more insane. It can always get more insane, and it always does.”
And then there’s this fantastically blunt verdict from The Daily Beast: “This is a film designed to f**k with you. And f**k with you it does.”
Many also declared that, yes, Mother! does deserve that exclamation point in its title. The Telegraph writes: "A sick joke, an urgent warning and a roar into the abyss, Mother! earns its exclamation mark three times over and more".
And The Playlist claimed: "Seldom has a title ever earned its exclamation point in more emphatic fashion. In fact it deserves a few more, so here they are: !!!!!!!!!”
Consider yourself warned.
Mother! hits UK cinemas 15 September
