[Mother of Fears] I Gave You Everything in Mother! (2017)

Welcome to Mother of Fears – a monthly column that will explore the various roles that mothers play within the horror genre. Mothers are a staple feature in horror movies, and yet, their stories, motivations, representations, and relationships with their children are so varied and complex that we never feel like we’re watching the same story twice. Every month I will take a look at a different mother from the world of horror, explore their story, and look at how they fit into the broader representation of women in horror.

Mother! (2017) opens with a fire, a world putting itself back together again, and Mother (Jennifer Lawrence) waking up in bed alone. The first thing she does is seek out Him (Javier Bardem), her husband. Her world revolves around Him. His world revolves around his work. Him is a poet who currently has writer’s block. He hasn’t written anything in a while, and despite Mother renovating the entire house after the terrible fire we see in the opening scenes of the film, Him has been unable to make any progress on his own work. 

Mother cleans, she cooks, she mixes the perfect shade of paint for the walls, and still her husband is distant from her. She is almost a caricature of the ‘perfect woman’ with her pale floaty outfits, bare feet, and perfectly styled hair, which changes four times within the first day we spend with her. Then everything changes when Man (Ed Harris) shows up and we glimpse a little more into both Him and Mother. Mother buries herself in domestic tasks when she is uncomfortable. She offers Man a cup of tea despite clearly wanting him to leave, both because it’s seen as polite and also because it allows her to withdraw to the kitchen so she can process her feelings on the situation away from the men. 

Him also likes to speak for his wife, perhaps knowing that she’s too timid to voice her own opinion. He says that she loves company even though she’s clearly uncomfortable, and claims that she doesn’t like to drink, a fact which Mother disputes. But even when Mother does voice her opinions, she’s quickly ignored by those around her. She asks Man not to smoke in the house, but later notices a full ashtray. She asks Him why he invited a stranger to stay in the house, and he makes her seem rude for even asking. She also finds herself constantly apologising for things which aren’t her fault, trying to diffuse difficult situations before they can turn into something else.

The next morning, Him is keen for their new guest to stay. He says that Mother will never understand what it’s like to have someone love his work in this way, a comment which hurts Mother because she believes she’s been nothing but supportive about Him’s work. Mother is Him’s muse, but he’s not getting what he needs from her right now, and so, he latches on to the next source of attention that walks through the door. 

Then Man invites his wife, Woman (Michelle Pfeiffer) to stay, and Mother finds herself in an even harder position. The three sit around the kitchen table in easy conversation as Mother is still left in the server role. She has quickly found herself an outsider in her own home, and Him does very little to make her feel more comfortable. Not only that, but Man and Woman have a very physical relationship, forever touching each other or kissing in an over-the-top fashion in front of other people. They make the distance between Mother and Him seem even larger, as they sit quite far apart over breakfast while Man and Woman fawn over each other. 

This is the first time the discussion of children comes up. Him says they want kids but haven’t had them yet, and Mother shoots him a significant look before claiming she wants to finish the house first. While it seems as though Mother may be against the idea of children, it turns out she desperately wants a child, but Him is unwilling to have sex with her due to his obsession with his work. Despite Woman hinting that having children had an adverse effect on her own marriage, she seems overly interested in Mother providing Him with children.

Mother finds herself constantly tripping over Man’s luggage which acts as a persistent reminder of the intrusion the couple pose in her house. She’s designed everything in that house down to the last detail, and this bag sprawled on the floor starts to eat away at her. Teamed with Woman wrecking the kitchen to make a simple pitcher of lemonade, Mother quickly realises that the couple only respect her husband, and don’t care about her feelings at all. 

Man and Woman’s two sons show up at the house, and after a brief fight one of them is mortally wounded and the other flees. Him accompanies the couple to the hospital with their injured son, leaving Mother alone. She specifically asks him not to leave her, and yet he abandons her without a moment's thought. Again, she is left to clear up the mess of others to try and get her house back to the way she wants it, and Him is nowhere to be seen when she needs him the most.

Man and Woman return to the house with Him’s blessing to hold a wake for their dead son. The house is soon overrun by strangers who treat the home as if it were their own. And then they start to destroy the house, rummaging in rooms they shouldn’t be in, before flooding the house when they break the kitchen sink. Mother has put all her energy into building this safe space for herself and Him, but he doesn’t respect that. He’s more interested in the attention of the group rather than their behaviour, claiming that household items can be replaced. Him is constantly thanked for welcoming these strangers into his home and his hospitality, but Mother is treated with hostility for asking them not to invade her space. The strangers and Him are using each other in a mutually beneficial relationship, but Mother is getting nothing from anyone except a ruined house. Because the strangers cannot use Mother in the way they want, they’re not interested in being nice to her.

Soon Mother falls pregnant, and moments after she announces this to Him, he runs off to write after suddenly finding inspiration. What should be a personal and happy moment between a couple ends with Mother feeling as though she’s interrupting because Him wants to get on with his work before he loses his flow. Later, when Mother feels the baby move for the first time she’s unable to get the words out as Him has finished his poem and that’s his main focus.

That night Mother cooks a lavish meal to celebrate her husband’s accomplishment, and a group of fans arrive at the front door to praise Him. Instead of turning them away, Him tells Mother to keep the food warm and goes out to bask in the glow of their compliments. Her love and attention isn’t enough for him as he cannot resist the pull of other people, especially en masse like this.

“I’m about to have our baby. Why is that not enough for you?”, Mother asks. All she wants is to be alone with Him and create a family in their perfect home, but the strangers won’t stop showing up and Him won’t stop encouraging them. Eventually, the strangers take over the house, gradually growing into an angry mob when they don’t get the exact attention from Him they want.

In the stress, Mother goes into labour, and Him fights to take them both to his study so she can give birth safely. However, the moment the baby is born, his thoughts drift back to the group outside. He wants to show off the gifts they have left, but Mother doesn’t care, and refuses to let Him hold the child because she knows he wants to bring him to the mob. She no longer feels safe with him and he’s willing to use a power move on a woman who just gave birth in order to get what he wants and win. Instead of caring for her in what is possibly the most vulnerable moment of her life, he drags over a chair and sits staring at her, hoping to spot a moment of weakness when he can take the baby. He stoops to petty behaviour to get what he wants at this point, but after seeing what the mob did to the house, she knows she can’t let Him have her baby.

Mother drifts off to sleep for a second, and in the blink of an eye her baby is gone. Him stands on the stairs outside their bedroom, basking in the glow and attention his son is receiving. The baby is snatched by the crowd, with everyone desperate to have their turn with him as they were with his father. Despite Mother’s protests, no one listens to her, and the baby is killed by the mob.

All she wanted was her baby and her safe space within her beautiful house, and Him’s vanity and arrogance have destroyed them both. Mother screams at the group as they feed on the remnants of her baby, injuring as many people as she can with a shard of glass. And at this point she’s branded the hysterical mother and they take their chance to beat her on the floor, calling her a slut, a cunt, and lots of other insults usually reserved for women.

Him comes to her rescue but he wants her to forgive the strangers in her house. He always has an excuse for his and their behaviour and makes her feel like the bad guy for not forgiving and forgetting. He thinks he’s being totally reasonable here, but he’s not allowing Mother her anger and, instead, is trying to quash her feelings. In fact, he’s been doing it through the whole film but she needs to feel and needs to let it out. She doesn’t want to forgive, she wants to embrace her rage, which is perfectly valid. Him is more concerned with how other people see him and wants everyone to like him, whereas Mother recognises their actions are unforgivable and she’ll never be able to trust Him again. “You never loved me. You just loved how much I loved you. I gave you everything. I gave it all away.”

Mother runs to the basement and sets the house on fire, burning herself and killing the strangers in the house while Him is left untouched. Him talks about how he lost everything in the fire at the start of the film, but in truth he isn’t really affected by it and the circumstances end up repeating themselves again. Mother is his muse, and he drains her of everything useful. She dies each time in the fire and ends up being reborn as someone new while Him remains the same. She suffers the loss because she loses herself, and her baby in this case. Him is the only one that retains a memory of what has come before and yet he repeats his mistakes over and over again.

Him is an arrogant man moving from relationship to relationship and branding his ex the problem to his next lover. He’s done it before and he will do it again. He is unable to learn from his mistakes because his focus is solely on himself and the work he is so desperate to create. In her dying moments, Mother realises she was never enough for him, and he admits that nothing is ever enough. He will never find true happiness with Mother, or those who come after her, but he is willing to try so he can take from them as much as possible before they inevitably leave him.

Him asks Mother if he can take her love, literally taking the last thing she has left to give. And while she would be within her rights to tell him where to go, she agrees so that she can be rid of him and the feelings that have caused her so much trouble. Once her heart is removed, she simply turns to ash. She dies without their love but he just uses her till the last moment to ensure his next life is what he wants. Or as close to it as he can get.

With Mother’s love now in his possession the house is rebuilt and a new Mother wakes up in bed searching for Him. The cycle repeats again, but Mother is finally free. Patti Smith’s version of The End of the World (1962) plays over the credits, with the lyrics “Don't they know it's the end of the world? 'Cause you don't love me anymore” reflecting how Mother feels. Without Him’s love, Mother doesn’t have a reason to exist anymore, though he definitely doesn’t deserve her love, or the love of any Mother’s that come before or after her.

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