Nolan McBride’s review published on Letterboxd:
MOTHER! feels a bit like a companion piece to Aronofsky's THE FOUNTAIN (which is one of my favorite films of of all-time), though it's obviously got its sights set on darker subject matter. The themes and ton are different, but the execution feels of a piece. And maybe that common element is just Aronofsky, but I won't pretend like Aronofsky is the only director who can pull off dense, layered allegories; it's just that he seems to do them well. In this case, the movie functions as two fully fleshed out allegories, which I won't go into because once you understand them, it colors the entire viewing of the film and the first watch of MOTHER! should be all about experiencing and discovering its mysteries. I only had a hint of one allegory and that still colored my experience to the point that I didn't even notice the richness of the second until talking the movie over with friends after it ended. Anyway, since I'm trying to avoid discussing more specifics in this respect, I'll leave that discussion there and focus a bit more on more technical/filmmaking aspects. I think this definitely qualifies as psychological horror (and not just a psychological thriller either), in a similar vein as BLACK SWAN. There are some mildly scary moments here and there, but the whole film is bathed in paranoia, fear, distrust, and disorientation. Like its lead character, you'll be left wondering what exactly is going to happen right up until the end. It's not that the direction of the story is hard to predict (it's not--it's telegraphed from the first scene in many ways), but seeing how it gets to the end and having the full picture revealed is its own reward. The performances are great across the board and Jennifer Lawrence is something of a powerhouse as she fights against the tide of events she cannot fully understand. Javier Bardem doesn't have to stretch much, but he continues to pull off that duality of charm and insidiousness. The camera work is of particular note as it's claustrophobic and always sticks to Lawrence, playing up the disorientation as you're stuck in her perspective. It's visually gorgeous and lush. The film is constantly building in tension until it erupts in the third act and it's just chaos, but I don't think it ever loses its thread. As much as is going on in MOTHER!, it's narratively tight, never wasting a moment, scene, or character. Every detail feeds right back into its themes, making it dense and ripe for dissection. I could see why some people are shocked by the ending, but within its context and with what it was trying to say, I never found it over the top. It's understandably hard to watch at times (and one scene, in particular), but it does nothing without purpose. And while it's easy to see this as some masturbatory, pretentious work from a director known for such works, it might be Aronofsky's most self-deprecating and self-damning in a way that's hard not to appreciate. For as much as it criticizes external subjects, I think Aronofsky puts himself among the targets of his firing squad in a way that is really unique and interesting. It's not a movie for everyone and that's okay, but it's definitely worth seeing and one of the most interesting movies in years.