My character is kind of a mirror for Jen’s character. I sort of am there to sow doubt into Jen’s psyche.” – Michelle Pfeiffer on her character (woman) in ‘mother!’
OK, we finally got the official storyline of ‘mother!’, from the production note of the movie and Michelle Pfeiffer plays “Woman” when Ed Harris is playing the “Man” with Jennifer as the Mother and Javier as the “Him”.
Mother (JENNIFER LAWRENCE) and Him (JAVIER BARDEM) live in a seemingly idyllic existence in a secluded paradise. But the couple’s relationship is tested when man (ED HARRIS) and woman (MICHELLE PFEIFFER) arrive at their home uninvited. Answering that knock disrupts their tranquil existence and as more and more guests arrive, mother is forced to revisit everything she knows about love, devotion and sacrifice.
On Pfeiffer’s character, she describes “Woman” is kind of a mirror for Jen’s character, and she was sort of there to sow doubt into Jen’s psyche.”
Harris describes his character’s relationship with his wife (Pfeiffer) as very “affectionate.” Says Pfeiffer: “We represent, as a couple, a lot of what may be missing in (Him and mother’s) relationship. My character is kind of a mirror for Jen’s character. I sort of am there to sow doubt into Jen’s psyche.”
In casting Pfeiffer, Aronofsky says the choice was triggered by the memory of a directing class he took in film school. “One thing (his instructor) said that stuck with me about Michelle was ‘It’s rare that you get such beauty and such talent in one package.’ Nothing has changed since that comment 25 years ago. She is a tremendous beauty but the depth of her skill is remarkable.” With her character there had to be a mixture of seduction and aggression. She found those moments and maneuvered them with ease, he says.
For Pfeiffer: “Making this film was really hard work and an incredible amount of fun. I loved working with this group of actors. Ed and I had a real synergy. Jennifer is a very complicated person in the best possible way. She’s hilarious, one of the funniest people I’ve ever met and wickedly smart.”
But the arrival of man and woman is only the beginning.
“We have these two sons played by the Gleeson brothers and they’re having their own problems. My character is dying,” explains Harris. “We’ve arranged for the inheritance but one of them is not very happy about it.” The sons arrive, played by real life brothers Domhnall and Brian Gleeson, and “come into the house and disrupt things even more,”
Everything escalates from there.As more and more people arrive in the house, mother presses Him to make them leave.
But for Him, the stimulation he needs has finally arrived.
According to Pfeiffer, from the beginning Aronofsky was mysterious about the symbolism of elements in the film but she knew “there was nothing random in every single choice, every single frame, every single word. There were certain things that were very important to him in the wording, in my dialogue.”
mother! opens in the US on September 15.
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