Allegorical Horror has quickly become my favorite genre of film.
I don’t think I’m alone in this experience, either. As this style of storytelling becomes more popular, each film unfolds as the viewer’s very own cinematic therapy experience. I got to thinking about films of this genre that I have fallen in love with and what they each represent as monstrous entities within culture, such as The Witch (faith gone awry), The Babadook (mental torment borne of despair and loss), Get Out (the Black experience in a predominantly white culture), or even Let the Right One In (friendship and bullying amidst cultural bias). These play off of some original heavy hitters which were perhaps far campier but still deeply important to cinema history such as Videodrome, Carrie, and They Live. All have very real messages that relate to the human experience.
In our modern age of creative visual storytelling, there’s a sense that comedy and horror have somehow swapped seats. Horror was once based on camp, cheap thrills, often exploitative and sexual- and comedy, though having similar habits, would explore social taboos and offer some insight to ordinarily uncomfortable subjects, made digestible through laughter. Siamese twins but with their own relatability. We don’t live in a funny world. We exist in a time that is challenging, and often depressing. For this reason, maybe horror feels more honest.
I left the theater yesterday after seeing Mother!, and a huddle of 5 young men were behind me. One said, “well, that was…a movie…” They all exchanged awkward laughs with their hands shoved in their pockets. This movie likely will not make sense if you firstly don’t know that it’s meant to be an allegory. If you’re expecting a fright fest, it’s probably not for you. If you’re willing to explore your own life and emotions, you might enjoy it. My partner said it was one of the most important movies he’s ever seen, and it offered him the chance to self-reflect. It did the same for me as well, in a different way.
There’s a scene towards the beginning where the main characters, a husband and wife, are in their kitchen- and the husband, indicating to two glasses, says “can I get these?” “I got it,” the wife says. Without glancing at her, he grabs them anyway and fills them with water at the table. She has a very subtle, inner pause. It’s so small you could miss it. This moment opens us up to their dynamic. Imagine if The Shining were remade to focus entirely on the experience of the mild mannered Wendy. Shelly Duvall’s character isn’t given much of a chance to tell the audience how she feels, living with such a megalomaniacal, ego-driven madman. Here it feels important to note that the husband in Mother!, is also a writer.
In a bizarre way, I found this movie to be empowering. At times it’s hilarious, including conversations I’ve actually found myself in (with partners, other women, or myself). At other times it was disturbing and painfully upsetting, in the way it can be when you identify with a character who personifies parts of yourself you cringe to witness the most. I read a few reviews that claimed the movie was good, but Jennifer Lawrence just “didn’t sell it,” to which I respectfully disagree. After decades of the entertainment industry demanding that women lose themselves in overacted dramatic meltdowns, this character is soft spoken and generally functions on a basis of peace. We’ve seen Jennifer Lawrence deliver characters with gruff voices, rolled shoulders, slumped or standing tall. She is an actor, and makes distinct choices for her characters. Her delivery seemed to clearly be based on choices. She follows through on them, maintaining the frightening consistency of a woman in shock.
This eerily reminded me of a fresh rendition of Lady Macbeth. She is one who disowns herself in favor of helping her husband murder another person for ascension and the crown. Afterwards, she falls into the background of the plot - that is, until she begins spiraling further and further, becoming dangerously unstable until her eventual death. This movie takes this concept of the Perfect Accommodating Wife and runs with it until it bleeds.
This film falls into some very strange terrain, which, if you’re open minded, will do a lot to express not just the effects of what a given situation does to a person, but to the global economy and populace. Oh, and this isn’t just a movie about people. From the words of the filmmaker, we should also be thinking of the experience of Mother Nature, suffocating as she tries to satisfy the narcissistic needs of humanity.