Jennifer Lawrence has a huge list of credits, but one flick in her filmography continues to divide fans to this day.
After starring in huge blockbusters in the X-Men and The Hunger Games franchises and taking home the Best Actress Oscar for Silver Linings Playbook, Lawrence - who turns 33 today (15 August) - switched gears for 2017’s Mother!
The psychological thriller, written and directed by Lawrence’s boyfriend at the time, Darren Aronofsky, was the year’s most bonkers movie.
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Warning: spoilers ahead...
Paramount Pictures kept the plot shrouded in mystery until its debut at the 74th Venice International Film Festival in September that year, where it received both boos and a standing ovation.
Lawrence plays ‘Mother’, a pregnant woman who lives in a gorgeous old house with her poet husband, Him (Javier Bardem). But all hell breaks loose when strangers start arriving at their home.
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Almost six years have passed since the film came out, film fanatics are still debating it. While some people praise its gruesomeness, others were left feeling sick after watching, with fan reviews being shared as recently as this month.
“Some scenes left me feeling sick in my stomach, and that doesn't happen often,” one fan opined.
A second twitter user shared: “What a film! Weird, thrilling and brilliant! The last 40 mins of the movie is a unique viewing experience. Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem are toooo good.”
While another amateur reviewer wrote: “This movie really left me quite speechless and impressed.”
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Similarly, a film fan penned: “After giving it some thought, my mind has changed completely and how I admire the movie even more.
“Mother! is f**king nuts that by the end of it I was left speechless. What starts off as a slow burn thriller with sprinkle of mystery, turns into chaos of cruel humanity."
However one person on X stated: “Feel sick after watching Mother! Jennifer Lawrence.”
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While another viewer wrote: “Mother! (Jennifer lawrence) is actually the worst film I’ve seen in my entire life.”
Mother! has its share of gory moments. The scene that haunts people to this day happens when Mother gives birth to her son amidst the chaos of a military infiltration as fans of Him wreak havoc in the house.
Shortly after the birth, once Mother falls asleep, she wakes up and searches desperately for her son - who is implied to be Jesus - only to find that Him has taken the little boy outside to the crowd that has infiltrated their home. The fanatics take the boy and pass him around which inadvertently kills him. After wading through the crowd she sees the strangers eating her son’s corpse.
The No Hard Feelings star said the scene was traumatizing. Speaking at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2017, she shared: "It was the scene where I woke up to a surprise, and ran downstairs… that was the worst feeling I’ve ever had in my life.
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"It was awful, and I don’t know if I would ever do such a movie again."
Killing babies on the big screen will always be contentious and Mother! is no exception. Even though Lawrence mother'd Mother! with a terrific, gut-wrenching performance, the movie was slammed for being overly disturbing.
The biggest complaint about the film was that it was gross and nobody knew what the hell was going on. There are Biblical references sprinkled throughout the film and some viewers think Him and Mother represent God and Eve and the uninvited guests other Biblical figures. The baby eating scene could be the most brutal depiction of Holy Communion ever. Although another theory is that Mother is Mother Earth and the strangers exploiting their home are humans taking advantage of the planet’s natural resources.
There’s a lot of style and a lot of substance that can work as a surface level haunted house horror - with a woman who knows something unsettling is going on, but everyone thinks she’s mad, home invasions and blood. Or it can be something much deeper - an allegorical tale about the treatment of Mother Nature and human behaviour.
One person who, like many people, doesn’t really know what the film is about is it’s star.
Appearing on an episode of Watch What Happens Live, the mum-of-one was asked by host Andy Cohen: "On a scale of one to totally confused, how much did you understand your film Mother!?"
Lawrence burst into laughter, whilst assuring her interviewer that she'd give a truthful answer.
She joked: "I'm going to be honest. Well, I was sleeping with the director, so I had the CliffNotes. So, five. Or four?"
The more you know…
Topics: Film and TV, Jennifer Lawrence
Gregory Robinson