Thoughts on mother! (2017)

Mother is a not-so-subtle take on man's indelible mark on the earth through the lens of Christianity.

To me, both Mother and Him are based on people's perceptions of Godliness, with Him representing how people commonly perceive the God of organised religion, while Mother represents the natural source of life and the essence of godliness.

Aronofsky also makes an attempt to comment on gender, splitting his depiction of God into gendered halves:

The male half represents the Church, the apostles and God of scripture; ambition and control, the everpresent conqueror worthy of worship and adoration.

The female half represents Mary and mother earth; helpless, meek, sacrificing, the carer, the dispensible and ignored giver of life. 

It becomes increasingly clear through its 2 hour runtime that the film is very critical of the negative impact that both organised religion and humanity has had on the prolonged longevity of the earth, and while I do appreciate the message, it is mostly done with little subtlety (at times it becomes so obvious with its imagery that it detracts from the film's intent). 

Originally posted on Letterboxd on 31st December, 2023