David Lowery’s latest effort proves that style alone cannot sustain a story without a soul
By James Verniere/Boston Movie News
From the perennially overrated David Lowery (“A Ghost Story,” “The Green Knight”) comes the—according to some—blasphemously-named “Mother Mary,” a film I watched while repeatedly asking myself: What am I looking at? Is it a bloated music video? A ghost story? A colossally boring lovers’ quarrel? A session with your therapist? Is it all of these things without being at all interesting?
A notably slim Academy Award-winner, Anne Hathaway, plays pop music superstar Mother Mary. In the style of Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift and Beyonce, she is almost as well known for her elaborate costumes, dance routines and stage design as her music. The original songs in the film, which sound alike and are supposed to make Mother Mary’s fans weep, were written and produced by real-life pop music czar Jack Antonoff and pop star Charli XCX (one song is by FKA Twigs). Hathaway can sing (How could I forget “Les Misérables” however much I try?), although I don’t think she sings any song all the way through. “Mother Mary” is not a concert film. We get snippets of her performances on tour in the film’s many flashbacks. I believe the first song we hear is titled “Burial.” How prophetical.
In typically over-edited opening scenes, Mother Mary arrives at an English country manor in the pouring rain, enters what looks like a restored chapel, seeks out super-exclusive designer Sam Anselm (British actor Michaela Coel) against the orders of her assistant Hilda (a wasted Hunter Schafer), and demands that Sam make her a dress. We assume they are former lovers.
Coel has those miraculous cheekbones, mad eyes and Medusa-like tentacles in her hair. Hathaway, tall and long-legged, looks fabulous in Mother Mary’s skimpy stage outfits and can still get the waterworks going in a flash. A dress fitting is set into motion. Mary has a snake-like tattoo on one wrist. Hilda takes Mary’s measurements. Sam loves “halos,” large, circular headpieces resembling the golden, glowing globes around the heads of saints that she has designed for Mary. Mary does not like them. “They hurt.” It’s “The Even More Phantom-like Thread.” Mary shows Sam a dance she plans to perform, which includes a lot of leaning backward and yoga lifts. Mary and Sam hurt each other’s feelings. They speak in horribly opaque and contrived metaphors and annoying analogies.
Why do we care about either of these two? I have no idea. We get no backstories, no history, no context. We do not even see a flashback to a happier time in their relationship. We do get a séance run by a hippie clairvoyant played by FKA Twigs and attended by Kaia Gerber. Why?
There is almost no one else to blame for this film than director, writer and editor Lowery. The plot will further feature—spoiler alert—a ghost in the form of a billowing piece of red fabric (Mary hates the color red and will not wear it). The magic fabric first appears beside Sam’s bed in a bloody flashback. Later, it will get inside Mary. My symbol detector bangs merrily away. Scenes featuring this cursed “ghost” recall Peter Strickland’s (better) 2018 effort “In Fabric.” Some of the action takes place at a venue in Hyde Park. Mary’s performances supposedly make her fans terribly sad. I’m not sure what the appeal of this might be. Are the concerts some sort of group sadness wank? A wound on Mary’s hand has a very familiar shape. Suddenly, we’re in David Cronenberg territory. But “Substance” this is not.
We get a montage of the fabric, which has split into two parts: a billowing piece and a ball-shaped piece. Has Lowery been binge-watching vintage episodes of “The Prisoner?” Sam declares that she intends to “cast out” the thing inside Mary, draws a magic circle on the floor and lights a bevy of wax candles. Will she also summon Father Merrin of “The Exorcist”? We are promised “the greatest song in the history of songs.” I didn’t hear it. “Mother Mary” even beats Brady Corbet’s “Vox Lux” (2018) at being pretentious, unfathomable and interminable. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
‘Mother Mary’
Rating: R for some violent content and language.
Cast: Anne Hathaway, Michaela Coel
Writer-director: David Lowery
Running time: 1 hour, 52 minutes
Where to Watch: In theaters
Grade: D
Boston Movie News 