‘Mother Mary’ – David Lowery Conducts A Fever Dream Of Fame, Obsession & Gothic Desire – Review
Filmmaker David Lowery is a talent who exists on his very own wavelength, a burgeoning auteur who disappears completely into character and genre, and who delivers unfiltered originality and incredible humanity and shading to the experience of cinema whenever he puts narrative to celluloid. The projections that then reach audiences are utterly breathtaking.
And now he returns to cinemas with a vibrantly ritualistic experience of image and sound as Academy Award-winning actress Anne Hathaway, alongside rising powerhouse Michaela Coel, deliver transcendent performances in this beautifully twisted portrait of artistry, creation and emotional possession in Mother Mary.
And you’re not ready for this pulsating watch of theatrical immediacy to completely take over you.
Long-buried wounds rise to the surface when iconic pop star Mother Mary reunites with her estranged best friend and former costume designer on the eve of her comeback performance.
A Burning Gothic Ghost Story Wrapped In Haute Couture
Anytime we see David Lowery’s name attached to a film project, we immediately feel goosebumps. He’s a filmmaker with such a command of his craft that he almost feels like an heir apparent to the master craftsmen of cinema, echoing the pure filmmaking style and ethos of directors such as Francis Ford Coppola and James Gray. And now he returns to cinemas with A24’s Mother Mary to really shake things up.
Following the journey of fallen pop star Mother Mary (Hathaway), who in the faltering fallout of her self-destruction finds her way back to former collaborator and fashion impresario Sam Anselm (Coel), she arrives with a unique commission: to build her a costume for her final ever show. But this ploy is only the beginning of a deeper, far more personal mystery that binds these two women together in a force of supernatural possession that neither can predict nor comprehend.
The end result is a burning, ecstatic Gothic haute couture fashion ghost story that completely takes hold of the audience.
As an audience member, when you get the chance to witness something truly original, you can’t help but get caught up in the immense ecstasy of the presentation. And that’s exactly what Lowery delivers here. This intrinsic puzzle-box of a picture unleashes layer upon layer of narrative contextually, shaped through the interactions of two deeply unique characters, while examining what happens when contemporary society comes between soulmates, and how no one can interfere with the force of nature or the momentum of artistry itself.
Lowery constructs Mother Mary as a shifting chess match of intrigue, desire, suspense, horror and presence, with the movements of each character revealing something deeper, darker and more desperate about one another inside this turbulent hurricane of visual splendour. There’s a sharp, almost Shakespearean edge to the drama which, matched with its intriguing gothic horror sensibility, keeps audiences on edge the entire way through.
The tension builds moment by moment, while the surprises — and the feelings they invoke of love, romance, horror, terror and total bliss — make this a piece of cinema that thumps with a loud and burning heart of pure artistry.
A Sensory Explosion Of Music, Light & Emotion
The whole experience of Mother Mary is a sublime treat courtesy of Lowery and an incredible team of performers and collaborators, and the sheer visual and audio presentation becomes a cocktail of sheer sensation.
Everything about this film carries a level of hyperreality as Lowery pushes the extremes of pop-star performance to a solar level of burning intensity, and the visuals are utterly sublime. Mixing the gothic shadows of Sam’s deserted English estate with Mother Mary’s circular, revealing stage of light and sound is a genius move, and the way the camera moves and transitions pulls audiences directly into the emotions and desires of these characters.
Light and colour swirl about the frame constantly, and this becomes a work of evocative sensation where your senses buzz with feeling from beginning to end.
The soundtrack is equally palpitating courtesy of the artistry of Daniel Hart, Jack Antonoff, Charli XCX and FKA twigs. Every sonic beat lands with immediate force, and it completely overtakes the audience in the process.
Anne Hathaway & Michaela Coel Deliver Career-Best Work
The characterisation within Mother Mary also exists on another level entirely, with Hathaway and Coel delivering mirrored portrayals of fraught, broken co-dependence that take a dark and twisted turn before resolving themselves in the most unexpected way imaginable.
With Mother Mary, Hathaway presents a character whose talents have almost consumed her to the point of madness. In Lowery’s hands, she becomes a Taylor Swift-esque icon pushed to the absolute edge of sanity, and it results in something genuinely unique.
It’s difficult to remember seeing Hathaway this vulnerable and electrifying in equal measure, and what emerges is a character caught in flux between performative goddess and shattered soul. And it absolutely pulls you in.
Matched against her is Michaela Coel as the enigmatic and almost unknowable Sam Anselm, a genius fashion designer and Mother Mary’s original collaborator — perhaps even her creator. Through her interactions with her soulmate-turned-spurned-nemesis, we witness something deeply raw, intimate and psychologically dangerous unfold on screen.
Coel’s presence and performance continually keep audiences on their toes in the most deliberate and unexpected way possible, and the chemistry between both performers burns with unsettling intensity.
Final Verdict – A Pulsating Watch of Performance
Mother Mary is a powerful expression of pure storytelling and heart-wrought emotion, with its visual and performative flair utterly consuming audiences whole.
For those seeking a cinema experience of pure artistic splendour, David Lowery’s latest stands as an utter triumph — haunting, hypnotic and overflowing with feverish cinematic passion.
Trailer
Image: A24 Films
