We unpack the meaning of Darren Aronofsky’s mind-boggling movie mother! We explain what happened at the end, its religious symbols, climate change allegory and more.
Additional Credits:
* Animation by Domenic Lombardi
.
.
Transcript provided by Youtube:
00:00
why don’t you want kids excuse me you do
00:05
want Darren Aronofsky’s mother is the
00:08
most loved adore hated film of the year
00:10
and a lot of this has to do with how
00:12
mind boggling and all over the place the
00:14
ending can feel the first half of the
00:17
movie still feels like a traditional
00:18
narrative that draws heavily on
00:20
Rosemary’s Baby a young wife is trying
00:22
to create a home with her older author
00:24
husband when their solitary life
00:26
together is interrupted by strange
00:28
guests but by the end the movie
00:30
escalates into surrealist chaos full of
00:32
religious imagery and allegory a
00:34
condensed and confused sense of time and
00:36
grotesque symbolic brutality there’s one
00:40
side of people in the movie who think
00:42
don’t tell anybody anything and then
00:44
there’s my side or I think it’s actually
00:48
kind of a sin to let people go see this
00:51
movie without understanding the allegory
00:53
behind it there are a lot of different
00:57
ways to think about this film but the
00:59
key to understanding the directors
01:00
intention is to view mother as allegory
01:03
for Aronofsky the film represents the
01:05
destruction of Mother Earth after God
01:07
has allowed humans to destroy this home
01:10
I wanted to make a film about mother
01:13
nature I wanted to make a film from her
01:15
perspective so on one level this can all
01:18
be read as a parable about climate
01:20
change how ironic it is that this film
01:22
is coming out as Emma is making contact
01:26
with the United States the director has
01:29
called the film a cautionary tale of
01:31
what’s happening to the planet when
01:32
mother puts her hands on the walls of
01:34
the house she feels a beating heart as
01:36
if she is the house biggest tool that I
01:38
used for my character was the connection
01:40
with the house because I see us as as
01:42
one organism so as the unwelcome
01:44
intruders destroy her house they’re
01:46
destroying her our planet when they
01:48
finally kill her son the heart that
01:50
we’ve been seeing turns a charred black
01:52
mother’s hit her limit and she uses oil
01:55
to set fire to the house a symbolic
01:57
reference to fossil fuels and a message
01:59
urging people to stop destroying our
02:01
earth or we’ll all soon be wiped out the
02:04
a TZ show noted as well that when mother
02:07
finally fights back against the people
02:09
we
02:09
Thunder and sounds of nature so it’s as
02:12
if she’s sending them hurricanes and
02:13
other natural disasters the very end of
02:16
the film shows a new woman waking up
02:18
just as Jennifer Lawrence did at the
02:20
start so the repetition tells us God is
02:22
repeating this cycle of creating a new
02:24
woman or a new mother earth to be
02:27
destroyed and remade over and over this
02:29
mirrors the cycles that are a key part
02:31
of nature but it could also mean that
02:33
the earth will still continue on in a
02:35
new form
02:36
after we kill everything that allows us
02:38
to live the cycle of life could start
02:40
all over again
02:41
but as Aronofsky said to Entertainment
02:43
Weekly quote it won’t be our story
02:45
anymore he clarified that just because
02:48
it’s the end of human life and large
02:50
mammals on the planet that doesn’t mean
02:52
that other life like insects and
02:53
bacteria won’t thrive this allegory
02:56
about Mother Earth is told almost
02:58
entirely through major stories and
03:00
figures from the Bible
03:01
Aronofsky told DW that quote every
03:04
single beat and character is related to
03:05
the Bible in order all the way through
03:07
the Old Testament and the New Testament
03:09
as mother tries to make the house into a
03:12
secluded paradise this corresponds to
03:14
the unspoiled Garden of Eden the story
03:16
takes place on the sixth day of Genesis
03:19
just before mankind comes into existence
03:21
and originally the team internally
03:24
referred to the film by the fake name
03:25
day6 Edie and Michelle are the first man
03:29
and woman and these are the sons and you
03:32
could probably then figure out who
03:33
Xavier is from that last shot
03:35
the first intruders are identified
03:37
simply as man and woman meant as Adam
03:40
and Eve the first humans created when
03:42
Adam seems to be sick and has a mark on
03:44
his back this references Adam’s rib
03:46
which in the Bible is what Eve was
03:48
created from soon after that moment in
03:50
the movie Michelle Pfeiffer’s woman
03:52
appears this version of Eve echoes her
03:55
story of giving in to temptation as we
03:57
see in the shot of her sexual behavior
03:59
with Adam and her sexy underwear
04:01
compared to mother’s plain panties in
04:03
the laundry Adam and Eve break the
04:05
crystal in gaad’s office the one place
04:07
they’re not supposed to go and so like
04:09
Adam and Eve they get kicked out of the
04:11
garden next we get their children Cain
04:13
and Abel and now that we’ve moved beyond
04:15
just one man and woman and the nuclear
04:17
family unit is created this leads to the
04:20
birth of violence
04:21
Edie and Michelle are really kind of
04:23
awful guess and inconsiderate but then
04:27
suddenly this dose of a family conflict
04:30
comes in and the first violence of
04:33
mankind in the history of humanity
04:36
starts to unleash in the scene mother is
04:39
horrified to witness this perverse human
04:42
truth that family which is supposed to
04:44
be based on love is also the source of
04:46
murder the gathering after Abel’s death
04:48
leads to a version of the biblical Great
04:50
Flood and then the people leave for a
04:52
while just as the flood in Noah’s time
04:54
results in a massive reduction of the
04:56
world’s population that mother gets
04:58
pregnant which uh sure is in the New
05:00
Testament part of the story and in
05:02
addition to mother nature the character
05:03
feels a lot like the Virgin Mary her
05:05
baby is fathered by God of course she
05:08
doesn’t have to go through any of the
05:09
usual inconveniences of waiting to take
05:11
a pregnancy test she just immediately
05:13
knows the morning-after sex that she’s
05:15
pregnant
05:16
this might remind us of the Annunciation
05:18
when the angel Gabriel tells Mary that
05:20
she’ll mother Jesus with a clear message
05:22
from above rather than unusual symptoms
05:24
like morning sickness as soon as the
05:27
Christ child is conceived God has moved
05:29
to write another book or the Bible
05:31
specifically his new book inspired by
05:33
the coming of Christ corresponds to the
05:35
New Testament whereas the past writings
05:37
he’s known for correspond to the Old
05:39
Testament and the gap between is
05:41
explained by writer’s block people who
05:43
show up to worship God’s book are
05:45
fervent Christians when the Christ child
05:47
is born the people bring the baby gifts
05:49
like the Magi do Jesus and as mother
05:52
nurses the baby her face looks a lot
05:54
like the way the Madonna is depicted in
05:56
many paintings slightly to the side with
05:59
a very soft smile like the mother Mary
06:01
she can’t protect her son from a painful
06:04
death she watches him be feverishly
06:06
worshiped only to be destroyed she then
06:08
sees people eating her son’s body an
06:10
allusion to eating the body of Christ
06:12
the basis of the Eucharist or communion
06:14
imitating the Last Supper in which bread
06:17
and wine are said to be or at least
06:18
symbolize the body and blood of Christ
06:20
but we see all this through the personal
06:23
filter of a mother who naturally can’t
06:25
help but view her child as a human being
06:27
a baby not a God or a symbol after she
06:30
blows up the house and destroys everyone
06:32
but God he
06:33
asks her to give him her heart and like
06:36
a human giving tree she does it’s still
06:39
beating and still has love for him this
06:41
kills her but the heart turns into the
06:43
next magic crystal to power a new
06:45
creation cycle so she becomes not just
06:47
an all giving Mary but also a Christ
06:50
figure there’s even a cross in the
06:52
background of the shot as God carries
06:54
her their body shapes echo the Pieta or
06:56
lamentation of Christ the Christian arts
06:58
subject of Mary morning the body of
07:00
Christ after it’s come off the cross
07:02
she’s embodying the ideal of Christ’s
07:04
forgiveness and resurrection by giving
07:07
love to those who destroyed her so that
07:08
life may continue throughout the film
07:11
mother asks God to make the people leave
07:13
but he finally admits that he wants them
07:15
to stay I don’t want them to go this
07:18
shows that he loves humankind more than
07:20
the earth
07:20
which alludes to the special love God
07:22
has for his people in the Bible near the
07:24
end God says I am i alluding to Exodus
07:27
and what God or Yahweh says to Moses
07:29
when asked his name they will ask what
07:32
is his name and how shall I answer them
07:41
also translated as I am Who I am and he
07:44
also tells Moses to refer to him simply
07:46
as I am there are also plenty of other
07:49
small Bible references throughout the
07:51
movie Christin wigs character is called
07:53
Herald which could relate to biblical
07:55
prophets like Elijah for me it looked
07:58
like the creation of religion and it
08:00
looks like false idols the later parts
08:02
of the story show the creation of
08:03
religion as cult we start to see people
08:06
worshipping false idols in a crazed way
08:08
starting wars and fighting over
08:10
territory the chaos and horror signified
08:12
the destruction of societies that have
08:15
warped religion and grabbed power based
08:17
on religious fear events like the
08:19
crucifixion and communion are
08:20
reinterpreted as dark Tass trophies and
08:22
when God tells mother she should forgive
08:24
these people
08:25
another allusion to the central tenet of
08:27
Christianity the context and tone of the
08:29
scene makes his request at first sound
08:31
absurd mother feels that they could be
08:34
happy if they turned the people away and
08:36
turned inward toward each other and
08:37
their family but the allure of the
08:39
others in their worship is more
08:41
important to him he’s not able to be
08:43
satisfied with stable happy nature
08:45
because he
08:46
I’ll use a higher form of destructive
08:48
creative expression and the human voice
08:50
the earlier parts of the film draw
08:52
heavily on Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s
08:54
Baby
08:55
like Rosemary at the beginning mother is
08:57
spending all her time painting a new
08:59
home although we’re in the middle of
09:00
nowhere compared to the city rosemary
09:03
and mother are both housewives hoping to
09:05
have a baby soon their husbands are
09:06
creative types who have had success in
09:08
the past but are currently struggling or
09:10
blocked both husbands find the answer to
09:12
their block through sacrificing their
09:14
wife to strangers both keep up the
09:16
charade for a long time that they’re
09:18
trying to turn the strangers away but
09:20
finally admit that they don’t want these
09:22
people to leave so both ultimately show
09:24
that their ambition and this outside
09:26
world are more important to them than
09:28
love for their wife michelle pfeiffer as
09:30
woman even fixes mother a drink and
09:33
insists that she drink it this could be
09:35
a subtle allusion to the drink that
09:36
Minnie castevet makes for rosemary in
09:39
her pregnancy which is made with devil’s
09:41
herbs in Rosemary’s Baby there’s also
09:43
imagery connected to breaking through a
09:45
wall which we see in mother as Vox
09:48
writes mother is also about the quote
09:50
horror of being trapped in a female body
09:52
under the thumb of domineering men like
09:55
Rosemary’s Baby in its visual style the
09:57
film also takes after Rosemary’s feel of
10:00
realism and using the personal to filter
10:02
a supernatural story the entire film is
10:04
shot only with three camera angles
10:07
there’s the close-up you see here
10:08
there’s the over-the-shoulder you see
10:09
here and then every once in a while
10:12
there’s a POV which you’ll see right
10:13
here in addition to its allegorical
10:16
aspects mother is also a relationship
10:18
story about a woman whose husband takes
10:20
everything from her and the stages of
10:22
the film correspond to the different
10:24
stages of the family experience at first
10:26
we meet a young couple looking forward
10:28
to having kids then we see the nuclear
10:30
family bursting in on them showing the
10:31
later stages of family conflicts between
10:33
children and parents facing mortality
10:35
and the third stage is dealing with the
10:37
world at large and a mother’s inability
10:39
to protect her children from that world
10:42
in Rosemary’s Baby we finally meet a
10:44
group of Satanists where as a mother
10:46
were presumably seeing God but Mother
10:48
reimagines God as a flawed human a
10:50
selfish and fallible creative type then
10:53
again this version of God does border on
10:54
a devil in some ways mother sees a torn
10:57
picture of him with devil horns furball
10:59
on it he repeatedly rips out the hearts
11:01
of women in order to get this beautiful
11:02
crystal that inspires his creation so
11:05
there’s a sense of the demonic in
11:06
turning a living beating heart into a
11:08
dead crystal even his forgiveness for
11:10
his people is portrayed as being due to
11:12
his own vain need to be worshipped the
11:15
movie uses this God figure to look at
11:17
the dark costs of the creative process
11:19
throughout his films Aronofsky’s
11:20
interested in the obsessive and
11:22
self-destructive tendencies of creative
11:24
people yet here he turns the artist into
11:26
someone more exploitative and abusive
11:29
while it’s not his first intention there
11:31
could be a critique in here of the
11:32
artist who seems a false god to his fans
11:35
but truly takes his creative power from
11:37
others like a director perhaps who
11:39
demands everything from his actress this
11:41
God believes the creation and
11:43
destruction must follow from each other
11:44
even as the people destroy the house and
11:46
mother asks why they say it’s because
11:48
they want to mark that they’ve been
11:49
their creation in the movie is abusive
11:51
and violent but also a deep impulse we
11:54
can’t resist eventually he says it’s not
11:56
her fault her love wasn’t enough for him
11:58
because nothing can ever be enough or we
12:00
wouldn’t create and he has to create
12:02
Aronofsky’s fascinated by the creation
12:04
myth and what it means to create an art
12:06
in nature and in religion but in mother
12:08
he’s also processing a deep anxiety
12:10
about humankind’s future and whether
12:12
we’re headed for a terrible destruction
12:14
on our planet perhaps the true reason
12:16
that many have reacted so negatively to
12:18
the film is because it’s so
12:19
unremittingly dark but as Aronofsky
12:22
explained to Entertainment Weekly quote
12:24
by staring into the darkness you reveal
12:26
the light so with this film Aronofsky
12:28
chose to in his own words lean into the
12:30
darkness and the result has been at the
12:33
very least a conversation starter
12:35
there’s this
12:36
who’s the second time that you watch it
12:38
you’ll notice it’s a it’s a loop so it’s
12:40
it’s bizarre
12:42
you know the endings really bizarre but
12:45
necessary to kind of complete this
12:48
insane loop
12:53
thanks for watching and if you like our
12:55
videos please consider supporting us on
12:57
patreon you can click on the link in our
13:00
description below we spend a lot of time
13:02
making these videos and every little bit
13:04
helps and of course the very best thing
13:06
you can do is subscribe to our channel
13:07
to get access to all of our latest
13:09
videos
13:10
[Music]
—
This post was previously published on Youtube.
—
***
If you believe in the work we are doing here at The Good Men Project and want to join our calls on a regular basis, please join us as a Premium Member, today.
All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS.
Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here.
Talk to you soon.
—
Photo credit: Screenshot from video