LOVE THY STRANGER

This is the true horror movie of the summer. To experience that sickening drop in your stomach, to shiver at how another person watches you. Or maybe to see the world walk by you and calmly destroy everything you’ve worked for.

The latest piece from current king of avant-garde psychological films, “mother!” may be director Darren Aronofsky’s most Aronsofsky-esque work yet. The 2017 film is marketed within the horror genre, but when juxtaposed to works such as “It” or “It Comes At Night” that are simultaneously screening, it’s 110-minute duration take audiences far beyond simple jump-scares. Exploring themes of intimate privacy, marital estrangement and the cult of celebrity, “mother!” is a dark mirror to the everyday psychological thriller.

Spearheaded by the unnamed female protagonist (Lawrence) waking up in another day amongst her secluded home alongside her unnamed husband (Bardem) we are set with the foundations of suspicion and intrigue amongst a slightly unordinary domestic bliss. Her ongoing efforts to rebuild a lifeless home, and His efforts to re-ignite his prodigious writing career are symbolic of the film’s exploration into the worth of creation; what it takes to create, what it means for the future, and at what cost. It’s not until a slowly growing array of uninvited guests arrives (namely Harris & Pfeiffer) and with them, uninvited chaos.

It’s the interplay between these four characters which underscores some of Aronofsky’s best work. The characterization of both Harris and Pfeiffer’s friendly intruders grows into blatant rudeness and shaming towards Lawrence’s. Pfeiffer especially excels as a subtly bitchy foil to Lawrence’s attempts at a sweetness that’s fighting back her dissatisfaction and slight paranoia at these two new members of her home. The use of camera-work here is the film’s best’; switching between uncomfortable close-ups of Pfeiffer and slightly more mid-shots of Lawrence affirm the growing disquiet seeping into a previously happy home.

But the horror of this film proves ordinary. And in the best way possible. There’s no monsters, no slasher tropes, no lurking entity or demonic presence. Just the unrelenting mistrust lurking between characters, seemingly unseen or ignored by Bardem’s, and the increasingly disregard for Lawrence’s feelings and work as more and more people stream through her home. The film is full of shock and gasp-worthy moments at some of the sheer rudeness towards Lawrence’s protagonist, and this grows more serious and visceral as the film heads to its cataclysmic conclusion.

By the end of “mother!” you feel slightly helpless, slightly suspicious and overall, saddened by what you just watched. But for the feeling of a truly human horror, and some of Lawrence’s best acting performance to date, it’s worth feeling uncomfortable for two hours.