‘Mother Mary’ Review
Stars: Anne Hathaway, Michaela Coel, Hunter Schafer, Sian Clifford, Atheena Frizzell, FKA twigs, Jessica Brown Findlay | Written and Directed by David Lowery
Writer/director David Lowery (A Ghost Story, The Green Knight) returns with Mother Mary, a bizarre concoction that’s part anguished two-hander and part ghost story, with a tiny dash of gore thrown in for good measure. However, though it’s undeniably stylish, it’s ultimately too pretentious for its own good, and the end result is a baffling, inconclusive mess.
Anne Hathaway stars as Mother Mary, a world-famous pop star who seems to be a mix of Madonna and Lady Gaga, complete with religious iconography in her stage shows. On the eve of her grand concert, she shows up alone, without make-up, at the mansion home of her British former costume designer, Sam Anselm (Michaela Coel), after an estrangement of ten years.
Anselm is by no means pleased to see her former collaborator (as established by a brief bit of voiceover in the opening scenes), but Mother Mary appears distraught and begs her to design a dress for the concert, which is just a few hours away. The two women begin to talk (and talk and talk and talk), until they suddenly realise that they have both recently had supernatural experiences, at which point flashbacks reveal a creepy ghost story that occurred at a seance, lead by Mary’s friend Imogen (FKA twigs).
Though there are a small number of peripheral characters (most notably Sam’s assistant, played by Hunter Schafer), the majority of the film is essentially a two-hander between Mother Mary and Sam, as the pair talk endlessly without ever saying very much. For example, it’s reasonable to infer from the way they interact that they are former lovers, as well as former collaborators, but that’s never made explicit in the dialogue.
Their conversation also addresses creativity and creative partnerships, but it’s painfully pretentious throughout. It doesn’t help that it’s all delivered in the same monotonous tone, so it’s increasingly tedious and frustrating.
When the ghost story finally arrives, it’s a welcome break from the conversation, and the flashback sequence is nicely staged. It’s atmospheric and creepy and nicely acted by Hathaway and FKA twig. Similarly, the gore moment is effective and nasty, mostly because it’s so out of character with the rest of the movie, so it functions as a jump scare.
However, the ghost story then moves into another phase, which is just as pretentious as the preceding conversation, and the finale is utterly baffling, despite featuring an arresting image (which the filmmakers clearly don’t regard as a spoiler, since it’s the centrepiece of the poster).
On the plus side, the central performances are excellent, with Hathaway and Coel both delivering powerful, intense turns. Similarly, the costume work and the production design are impressive, as is the soundtrack, which features songs by Jack Antonoff, Charli XCX and FKA twigs, alongside Daniel Hart’s score.
Ultimately, however, this is a case of style over substance, because whatever point the script was trying to make gets completely lost, and even the ghost story doesn’t seem to serve a purpose in the plot. Watch Lowery’s other ghost story movie again instead, and marvel at the scene where Rooney Mara eats an entire pie in one take.
** 2/5
Mother Mary is in cinemas now.
