A psychological mindf*ck of some kind, filmmaker Darren Aronofsky has tried to keep his latest horror thriller, “mother!” vague and under wraps (yes, a lower case “m” with an exclamation mark is the insisted spelling of the movie from the director and the carefully watching Paramount Pictures). But one thing’s for sure, Aronofsky loves Roman Polanski and is tipping his homagistic cap with new posters that give nods to the French filmmaker’s “Rosemary’s Baby.”
READ MORE: Darren Aronofsky Says ‘mother!’ Is “A Cruise Missile Shooting Into A Wall”
Aronofsky’s already hinted that the movie is kind of a sister picture to his dark, psychological horror “Black Swan,” and between that reference and “Rosemary’s Baby” you get a pretty good sense of what “mother!” is going to be: a psych horror where everyone is essentially gas lighting the protagonist.
READ MORE: Darren Aronofsky Compares ‘mother!’ To ‘Black Swan’
In this case, that lead character is played by Jennifer Lawrence (who subsequently became Aronofsky’s girlfriend after the movie wrapped; you can say they got along). The movie also stars Javier Bardem, Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer. Here’s the official, intentionally opaque synopsis:
A couple’s relationship is tested when uninvited guests arrive at their home, disrupting their tranquil existence. From filmmaker Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan, Requiem for a Dream), mother! stars Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer in this riveting psychological thriller about love, devotion and sacrifice.
To get another flavor of the film, Paramount has released a clip on its viral site You’ll Never Answer The Door Again, which speaks to the warning of uninvited guests (possibly some kind of vampiric experience?). And all of it centers on motherhood and Michelle Pfeiffer’s wicked character. “Why don’t you want kids?” she asks Jennifer Lawrence in the clip, seemingly trying to provoke. But as Pfeiffer snakes around the room with a glass of wine apparently trying to get under Lawrence’s skin, she herself becomes startled with a revelation you’ll have to see in the clip for yourself. It’s obviously a turning point in the movie that peels back another layer. It also, once again, evinces the connections with “Rosemary’s Baby.”
Additionally, on top of the Polanski-inspired poster which Aronofsky and his team have been paintbombing all over the country in random locations like some kind of pop up experience (check his Instragram account), “mother!” has released another poster, this one darker and more surreal (which also plays with refractions and what looks like a bat in the center). Most anticipated film of the fall? One of them for sure.
