Courtney Howard // Film Critic
Rated R, 1 hour and 52 minutes
Directed by: David Lowery
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Michaela Coel, Hunter Schafer, FKA twigs, Kaia Gerber
Similar to the saints and martyrs who came before the invention of the celebrity-sphere, the life of a music superstar can be a tortured existence – as is the fictionalized one perfectly portrayed in filmmaker David Lowery’s MOTHER MARY. His 1:1 comparison provides more than just metaphorical context, but also the basis on which the psychological horrors are birthed. He’s carefully crafted a bespoke pop-gothic pleasure that’s luxe, beguiling, barbed with razor wire and flat-out marvelous. Coupled with knock-out, haunting performances from two leading ladies and impeccably realized workmanship from all the crafts teams, the narrative’s salient, compelling commentary on the artistic process resounds on the right key. This one feels blessed by the divine order.
It’s a dark and stormy night when pop star Mother Mary (Anne Hathaway) bursts into her former costume designer Sam Anselm’s (Michaela Coel) home outside of London. She’s returned to her estranged bestie humbled, repentant and with her heart in her hand, desperate for forgiveness along with a professional request for a new iconic gown for her upcoming concert. Since Mother Mary’s show is in a few days, it’ll require intense focus, creative imagination and a fanatic sense of dedication to finish the dress under a looming deadline. It will also require Sam to put aside her bitterness over her friend’s betrayal and abandonment, as well as Mother Mary to sincerely apologize for her destructive behavior.
During the following hours of their emotionally charged and physically taxing reunion, Mother Mary and Sam are tasked to learn redemption comes at a cost when their sanity is put to the test. It’s not just a simple sparkly dress Sam’s supposed to make: she’s been instructed to make what’s to be Mother Mary’s final, to-die-for look before possibly going on a self-imposed retirement. The superstar’s light has been dimmed due to a pervasive, omnipresent red diaphanous specter invading her mind. Together they must work through deep-seated trauma they’ve caused each other both personally and professionally, digging through their hurt feelings to excavate raw honesty and creative truths.
Lowery rather assuredly paints his picture as both a restrained, poignant tale about female friendship (embracing our transgressions and triumphs) and a taut psychological thriller about exorcising artistic demons (exploring the symbiotic nature of its betterment and worsening). Neither of those prominent story aspects threaten to overtake the other, as Lowery brilliantly balances the two, intertwining them narratively and thematically like strands of DNA. We can chart the ebbs and flows of the dynamic duo’s ever evolving muse-creator relationship dissolving to the inevitable collaborative conclusion, as it relates to the destruction of the id or ego in order to obtain creative enlightenment.
Lowery’s editing style is fluid, cutting between production designer Francesca Di Mottola’s stark, intimate modernism of Sam’s barn atelier and the musical stagecraft of concert sequences, which feels reminiscent of MADONNA: TRUTH OR DARE smoothly switching from big, blusterous color sequences to the intimacy of a grainy black and white reality. The barn’s framed, empty voids become diorama-like, theatrically vignetted settings for these ladies’ traumatic mental anguish, morphing into Sam’s bedroom or Mother Mary’s summoning séance. His depiction of the perils of pop stardom (not too far off from ROCKETMAN’s) in the sequence where Mother Mary repeatedly ascends and descends venue staircases to worsening degrees of collapse is unsettling, dizzying and a snapshot into our heroine’s crumbling psyche. Plus, he blessedly underplays his channeled influences so the audience isn’t overloaded with noticeable “Remember Berries” from films like POSSESSION, UNDER THE SKIN, and TAYLOR SWIFT’S REPUTATION STADIUM TOUR.
The auteur, costume designer Bina Daigeler and “final boss” gown (they’ve titled “Red Mother Dress”) designer Iris van Herpen dot their landscape with religious symbolism to cement the pop-star-as-modern-revered-saint connection. This iconography is tucked into everything from the elaborate, Golden-Age-of-Hollywood headdresses Mother Mary sports in her concerts (echoing halos in historical Catholic paintings) to Sam’s previous designs referencing Joan of Arc and Mary Magdalene. Her beaded and bedazzled bodysuits steal focus. Cinematographers Andrew Droz Palermo and Rina Yang capture the characters and their environments with grit, grace and a dash of gruesomeness. While in Sam’s chic lair, the camera remains fairly static with the occasional whip pan, luxuriating in color palettes of bruising blue, black and wood tone. While in Mother Mary’s sanctuary-esque stage, the camera is a participant observer, dazzled by spotlights, star-shaped confetti and neon lasers.
Coel and Hathaway are a metaphysical force of nature. They hold our attention in a vise-like grip. Their crackling chemistry palpably transcends any artistic artifice. Hathaway infuses her character with a hint of warmth that’s been usurped by brittle vulnerability. Her fragile mindset is evident in her rain-drenched, disheveled bleached blonde hair and the soaked sweat-suit that provides her no comfort. Her physicality informs her character, transforming from confident commanding performer to a broken soul. Coel shows a nuanced salty rage, covering up Sam’s disheartening loneliness brought on by infidelity. She’s terrific delivering her lines with grief-fueled bile. Schafer doesn’t have much screen time, however she has a pivotal scene where she gets to shine.
The picture’s soundscape is truly tremendous. Lowery, sound designer Johnny Marshall and his sound team pay attention to the story unfurling on a sonic level, starting our adventure (even before the studio logos appear) on the fuzzy pops of a vinyl record playing. The underlying wind, patter of rain and ominous rolling thunder act as a base, matching the ladies’ conversational cues and augmenting the film’s overall atmospheric pull. Daniel Hart’s symphonic score enhances the drama, particularly in the 3rd act when sacrificial blood is spilled. Naturally, the soundtrack selections (courtesy of Jack Antonoff, co-star FKA twigs and Charli xcx) are top shelf. “Burial,” “Holy Spirit” and “My Mouth Is Lonely For You” are undeniable club bangers.
As a kissing cousin to SMILE 2 and VOX LUX, MOTHER MARY is wholly unique in its innovative aims. The heady sentiments and haute couture combine in a hallucinatory visual feast.
Grade: 5 out of 5
MOTHER MARY will be in theaters in limited release on April 17th. It opens nationwide on April 24th.
