Oh mother! A bonkers horror-inflected thriller which divides opinion

mother! is a film which leaves you stewing with questions long after it finished, and is certainly not one which can happily sit in the middle.

The film opens with fire - a woman stares out before a house is transformed from a burnt and broken shell into a slightly shabby countryside mansion - which does all make sense eventually though certainly not at first.

We then meet the titular mother, Jennifer Lawrence (whose next award should be for Best Hyperventilating in a Drama) awaking and looking for her older husband and blocked-writer, Javier Bardem, in their palatial homestead.

Lawrence, we discover, has spent a long time renovating the house and turning it from shabby chic into the mansion of her husband’s childhood after a fire.

Suddenly, their domestic bliss is interrupted by the arrival of Ed Harris, who claims to be a doctor who, despite their living in the middle of a field surrounded by forest, thought he was arriving at a bed and breakfast.

The couple’s lives are very quickly turned upside-down as they discover Harris is not quite who he says he is, especially as his wife, played with deliciously bad manners by Michelle Pfeiffer, arrives and their lives change forever.

Describing the plot in this way leads an audience to believe there is a particular story at work - perhaps a thriller around human beings lying and cheating in mysterious ways.

That, however, does not at all describe what is at play here, and the requirement to avoid spoilers makes it almost impossible to give a real sense of the story.

The best way to look at mother! is through its symbols, which are certainly evident (and some might say laid on rather thick) throughout the drama.

There is a great deal of religious symbolism; Bardem’s God-like character invites more and more people into his world to love and adore him, while there are images of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, even the Virgin Mary at other moments in the drama.

But this film is also allegorical, teaching the audience lessons about respect for the environment, with Lawrence’s Mother Earth trying to protect her home from the invasion of disrespectful humans who are intent on ruining her creation by trampling on her newly-cleaned floors or breaking her kitchen sink.

On a human level, we see a relationship which is almost abusive as one party continues to give to her partner, only for him to require more love from elsewhere and neglect her needs and desires.

This can extend into a career setting as well, as Aronofksy analyses the relationship between a homemaker and her husband as he struggles to work and write, with the frustrations of striving creatively bleeding into their marriage.

But the real focus of the film is Jennifer Lawrence, with the camera either sitting on her shoulder, looking into her face or watching her from afar. She is central and the audience is left wanting her survive in a world turning in on itself.

One unfortunate point is that her character, of all the characters, is probably the least developed. But with her being a creator, her life is based in improving her surroundings so her gaze is always outward rather than inward.

Her life is built on making her home “the” home, which ultimately opens her up for others to take advantage, evoking sympathy from the audience.

The final act is, frankly, bonkers. To say any more would be to give away some important plotlines.

Let's just say this: a "violent turn" is another understatement and the word “apocalyptic” seems more fitting, to tell the truth.

All in all this film is one to see for the discussion afterwards, because there will definitely be a need for it.