There really hasn't been a film in cinemas like mother! in a number of years.

For one, the film is utterly divisive for audiences, with some completely repulsed by it and others embracing it as a work of unparalleled art. Hell, it even split this very site in two.

Anyway, one of the chief complaints that its detractors had was the fact that the film was so deeply buried in metaphor that its very meaning was lost in all of the chaos. So, who better to explain the film's deeper layer than director Darren Aronofsky himself? In an interview with Collider, he made it pretty clear that the first half of mother! was basically lifted straight from the Bible.

"There (are) completely Biblical elements that I’m surprised—some people are really picking up on (them) immediately, other people have no clue, and I think that’s just how people are brought up. But that was the structure of the film was the Bible, using that as a way of discussing how humans have lived here on Earth. But it was also meant to be sort of ambiguous because that’s not really a story, it’s more of a structural thing. A lot of people aren’t picking up on all of it, there’s lots of little things and Easter Eggs and how things connect, and I think that’s the fun of unpacking the movie."

A lot of this tracks with an interview Aronofsky did with Vanity Fair a couple of days ago, where he basically said that the film came about from thinking "about how it must feel to be Mother Nature," and the rage that she feels for people who relentlessly f*ck up the planet. As Aronofsky went on in his interview with Collider, people are "getting the more traditional muse and the creator marriage, suddenly being invaded by all these outside forces and the terror of that—that’s like a good level to get it on. But then it really goes bonkers, the film, and unless you sort of have a sense that we’re talking about other stuff or you allow yourself to take a ride on that, you’re gonna resist it and not have a good trip."

So, with all this explained and laid out, does it still make it a good movie or is it just overwrought bollocks? Let us know in the comments!

 

Via Vanity Fair / Collider