Going in I already had a solid idea of what was going to happen (read several reviews spoiling the final act and some of the more grizzly images), but I still wasn't ready for seeing it all unfold and those moments in context of a far more unbelievable final product.
"mother!" isn't subtle in what it's saying or doing, but it knows it. It's not here to open your eyes or show you a new prospective on the world, it's here to brutally beat you down and scream into your ears about what's happening to us all, knowing that we already know these things, but what makes it furious is how little we care. That's what drives the screams of these ideas and thoughts.
It's not a matter of simply hammering in obvious metaphors, it's pure frustration at the viewers doing nothing about it in the first place, similar to Mother feels about Him never feels as if he's listening/respecting her wishes, causing a domino chain of events that start out somewhat harmless (a couple glasses and plates breaking) to borderline unbelievable (the entire third act after Him finally creates something new and publishes it to the world), some of which left me genuinely speechless.
A lot of "mother!" isn't just focused on screaming in the painfully obvious to the uncaring viewers, it's focused as well on making you feel as cramped and trapped as Mother herself, starting off with extreme close ups on the first four actors and making each hallway Mother walks through feel as if they were closing in, ready to crush her into a pancake, before sprinkling in more and more hints that something is not right (one of which may be a homage to Sam Raimi's "The Evil Dead") and eventually derailing into pure madness, but still maintaining that cramped, unsafe feeling.
Javier Bardem's performance is a big factor in that regard, because as much as much as he wants to make us and her feel welcomed and loved, it feels unreal, unnatural, and uncaring. His long, sly smile and charming laugh make it seem like he does have those traits, but slowly the paint begins to chip away, revealing the what's unearth the facade, even if he remains completely in it.
Lawrence isn't given much to outside of acting more or less as a vessel for us to ride within and as our own voice of reason within all of this, but its her commitment to go through all of this and give and give as much as she can (both in regards to the character and the actual performance) makes her an equal piece to this puzzle as much as Him (again, character and performance).
Others are either pawns in a grander picture (Harris and Pfeiffer), or faceless screams within a riot of destruction crashing through her home and on her body, leaving her to give and give with no reward in return, other than to live to give again and again, foreshadowed by Woman's (Pfeiffer) conversation with Mother about being one herself with two children, and how she feels she only gives and gives, or how our own planet feels as it gives us a place to live, breathe, eat, sleep, and love, only for us to waste away on ripping it apart and taking everything out of bitter, selfish hate.
Again, it's not subtle, but it's not trying to be. It's screaming its frustrations and angers at us. How we treat our partners and those who give so much to us and how little we give in return, leaving them as empty husks, wanting us not to dissect what we viewed, but to do something outside of that of what we just viewed, and make it so what just happened in front of our eyes on the screen, doesn't happen to us in reality, even if that isn't particularly likely...
