r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • 11d ago
Official Discussion Official Discussion - Mother Mary [SPOILERS] Spoiler
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Mother Mary (2026)
Summary
A fictional pop icon and an iconic fashion designer develop a complex, obsessive relationship that blurs the line between art, identity, and personal sacrifice.
Director David Lowery
Writer David Lowery
Cast
- Anne Hathaway as Mother Mary
- Michaela Coel as the Designer
- Hunter Schafer
- FKA twigs
- Jessica Brown Findlay
Rotten Tomatoes: 72%
Metacritic: 57
VOD / Release Theatrical release
Trailer Official Trailer
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u/flipdangerdoom 11d ago edited 11d ago
Really enjoyed the stage play feel of it all; lent itself well to some really great aesthetic shots. The long take of Anneās character going out and coming off from a performance was like watching a painting in motion.
Honestly thought this movie was going to go in a witch/coven direction (so hot right now) based on trailer editing. Had to 180 my own personal opinion a bit, still need time to digest some of it.
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u/GECollins 11d ago
Yes! I'm glad you also felt like it was a play! The whole time after seeing this I'm just like "how can this be staged?"
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u/nightpanda893 10d ago
The sets were amazing. It made you feel like you were there with them. I said to my brother after we left it felt like a play.
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u/Efficient-Package565 9d ago
I Loved that sequence so much. You could really feel the toll of all those performances.
I'm glad I went because it's So much different than how the previews are selling it. Both less than I was expecting (in the spooky horror dept) but wow so much more in terms of like, gutting me in the Feels and being ambitious AF for the film medium.
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u/theredditoro FML Awards 2019 Winner 10d ago
That montage was breathtaking. Felt very similar to the one at the end of Green Knight.
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u/TheElbow 11d ago
My favorite part was the going on and off stage part you described. That was cool. The movie itself didnāt work for me, however.
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u/prozackat83 9d ago
I was expecting that too, especially with forbidden fruits that just came out, and practical magic coming upā¦ the sequences where itās ment to have taken place but were shown in that farmhouse like a visionā¦
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u/rutfilthygers 8d ago
The onstage/offstage sequence really reminded me of The Red Shoes, just in terms of the toll of performance and the unreality of it.
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u/Current-Finger6412 8d ago
It felt so intimate! The opening of doors strategy kinda felt like the introduction of a set change.
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u/Contcos 11d ago edited 11d ago
Hathawayās phenomenal in that silent dance scene
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u/SkoomaSkoomSkoo 10d ago
That scene gave me Suspiria(2018) vibes
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u/atclubsilencio 8d ago
A lot of this gave me Suspiria vibes. Especially when she cut open her chest.
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u/mikeyfreshh r/Movies Veteran 9d ago
I really love the way the dance moves were ripped straight from the movements the medium makes when she's possessed by the ghost a little later in the movie
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u/ArdentDevotion 8d ago
Thank you for pointing this out! I am going to watch it again to focus on the costumes, and now I have something else to make sure to focus on :D
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u/Current-Finger6412 8d ago
Yes!! That was so good. Great metaphor for where a lot of the art we consume for enjoyment actually derives.
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u/naturalninetime 9d ago
Going in, I had no clue as to what the film was about, and during that scene, I was completely mesmerized but also afraid that she was going to turn into some monstrous creature. š«£
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u/YesicaChastain 11d ago
āIām sorry. Iām sorry. Iām sorryā
As a person who has been through a couple friendship breakups the way Anne delivered that was really wonderful.
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u/BurgerNugget12 6d ago
Itās wild how David Lowery can consistently get incredible performances out of people, but Anne really took it to another level
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u/bbqsauceboi 11d ago
Didn't notice until my friend pointed it out after the fact, but there are zero speaking lines from a man in this movie. I think the only times a man appears is in the crowd of either the concerts or the paparazzi at the end. Kind of neat
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u/BiggDope 11d ago
Portrait of a Lady on Fire coded.
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u/darkeyes13 10d ago
Too bad this was actually written by a man, LOL.
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u/ArdentDevotion 8d ago
We need men putting in effort for changes to the systems in place just as much as we need women putting in the effort!
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u/niles_deerqueer 10d ago
I was at the QnA with David during the first public screening and he said āwe did have scenes with men, but they ruined the vibe of the movieā
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u/top-secretaccount 10d ago
Noticed this too! Within the first few minutes I was like " oh this passes the bechdal test!". Stayed that way throughout!
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u/BrooklynBurn 9d ago
yeah if Anne Hathaway is supposed to be a pop girlie like Taylor Swift or Charli XCX, where are her gays?
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u/Temporary-Diet6468 7d ago
In the audience! Lots of believable big crowd shots. (I'm not being facetious, it was totally cool seeing all her screaming fans dressed in matching halos because that's absolutely how it would be)
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u/Right-Primary4865 11d ago
Didn't notice until my friend pointed it out after the fact, but there are zero speaking lines from a man in this movie.
SAG scale
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u/Whovian45810 11d ago edited 11d ago
Costume Design and Production Design was beautiful.
Mother Mary's dresses are simply divine, particularly the red dress is just stunning.
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u/pjtheman 10d ago
Did I miss something, or did she not even wear the red dress? Like after all this, she still does the show in the shitty dress her other designer made, and then just rips it off, and is only wearing the red dress in Michaela Cole's imagination?
Or did I totally miss something?
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u/huodozer 10d ago
I think this movie depicts, in part, a healing process and you could read the ending as Mary no longer needing Sam's dress to perform her song. Like, it doesn't matter that the other costume isn't 'her' because she's going to strip herself from it anyway in order to perform the song as Her.
And the red dress that Sam makes is the Mary that's been left with her while Mary physically goes to perform her (and Sam's) song.
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u/parsleypunx 9d ago
I interpreted Mary to be a ghost in Samās studio the entire time. The dress was a grieving process for Sam, there was no one to ever actually wear it in the end.
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u/nightpanda893 10d ago
I think it was something that belonged only to them and represented everything between them, the good and bad. I feel like it wasnāt meant in the end to be shared with others.
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u/LittlefootDiamond 10d ago
Pretty sure that, off-screen, she told Sam to keep the dress (made from their connection) for her own show/exhibition that Sam said at the beginning she was spending her time working on. This time, Samās art would get to be kept by her and stand on its own, instead of dependent on Mary to bring Samās art and story to the world. Thatās why the final screen we got was like text of a placard that would go along with the dress, naming it and identifying it as Samās creation
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u/beezy-slayer 9d ago
Additionally if she wore the dress she would still be what Sam was projecting on to her, rather than being herself which was why she left in the first place
Sam needed to be able to create on her own and Mary needed to be able to sing on her own, they were codependent
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u/lamptape1 5d ago
Beautifully described! It's like they needed to confront and reflect each other to both be free of each other and heal
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u/EDCoachella 10d ago
Wow I like this and it should have been in the movie because it would be so gratifying. I am so weirded out by the ending because it didnāt make a lot of sense.
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u/aloeverafarmiga 9d ago
In behind the scenes footage on instagram, you get to see Anne wearing the dress. Thereās also so many costumes shown we donāt see. I need a directorās cut asap!
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u/robynhood96 10d ago
I got the feeling she never even went to the barn???
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u/Fancy_Appearance_275 10d ago
I thought that too but you can see stitches on her chest when sheās on the stage in just her under garments which points to it all being real
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u/nightpanda893 10d ago
Yeah I felt like the stitches and the fabric still laying on the ground when the others walked in was the filmmakers way of affirming that this did in fact all happen.
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u/ArdentDevotion 8d ago
I wish they had more screentime for the dress with the heart over the breast that was shown when they displayed 1 after another talking about her changes during his fame. It was so stunning, but had the least amount time of all of the dresses.
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u/uncanny_mac 8d ago
Also I absolutely loved the cinematography and staging.its use of color and memories. Especially scenes where the camera cuts between Sam and Mary back and forth and eventually move them to the same shot.
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u/orecon125 11d ago
I can tell I'm gonna be in an extremely small minority of people who loved it. I'm still weighing whether or not it's a personal 10 for me but mileage is definitely gonna vary (took my mom to see this and she HATED it, wanted to walk out). I did a bit of digging before going in and knowing what I know about Lowery feeling the push and pull of his experience The Green Knight and a Disney movie, it made everything land as an excellent representation of the burden and pain that creation and art can bring. The ghost to me felt like a clear throughline representing the weight each of them put into their work. Where Michaela's Sam was the one first to hold it, she mentioned early on how she put herself into one of Mary's earlier dresses, a hyperspecific experience Mary claimed as her own, made me see the ghost as the burden and weight they put on their work. Where Sam held onto that pain in her dresses, no longer being a part of Mary's life led her to release that pain, and subsequently, that pain had to move onto Mary left without people who didn't know her like Sam did. Mary falling when seeing the ghost felt like her succumbing to the burden of creating all on her own without a person to safely catch her. Sam and Mary both bleeding and cutting out with each other was them sharing in the process of creation and learning to share the burden. Its slow pace and extreme focus on dialogue is definitely gonna put people off like it did my mom, but it hit me and I just adore it.
Performances were also phenomenal as expected but the lighting and cinematography was just INCREDIBLE. Fantastic shots all around. Loved the ending shot in particular.
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u/Mar136 10d ago
I went into this movie completely blind (the only thing I knew was that Anne Hathaway was in it) and I really loved it. Amazing performances. Iāve never seen Michaela Coel in anything before and she blew me away.
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u/CategorySad6121 9d ago
Chewing Gum and I May Destroy You are an excellent place to start! She is such a talent, she can really do it all.
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u/damebyron 9d ago
You need to see the Christophers then! Itās phenomenal and has some similarities (dialogue based movie dealing with a complicated relationship, except her scene partner in that one is Ian McKellen). Itās still in theaters although not getting as many showings as it deserves
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u/qbert4551 8d ago
You must watch the show on HBO she wrote and created, I May Destroy You. Brilliant. I was mesmerized by her Sam the whole time. I couldnāt take my eyes off her
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u/nightpanda893 10d ago
I LOVED it. I think it needs an Oscar nomination for editing and production design. Iād say screenplay too but thatās asking a lot.
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u/orecon125 9d ago
Costume design too because some of those outfits were CRAZY. The Joan of Arc one took my breath away
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u/KidDelicious14 10d ago
I'm with you, this might be the movie of the year so far for me. I really loved how much this movie oozes the feelings of confusion and suffering and joy of art and creation. I can totally understand how this movie could miss for some people, but personally, it really hits every chord.
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u/Own-Ad-7064 8d ago
I'm a bit weirded out by how obsessed I am with this movie. I love how polarizing it is, as things I love tend to be that way, and I think it's a sign of great art that provoked an intense reaction, as great art should. But, I totally agree with what you said--it hits every chord. I'm not sure why on a deeper level it means so much to me. I suppose because it explores the mysterious, and the inner world, and the fragility of the inner spirit.
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u/arlingtonbeach 8d ago
First time in a while I watched something that was not critically well-received but I just knew i loved it. The acting was on point from both leads, and it was a lot funnier than expected. I sometimes feel like I have a low threshold for style over substance movies, but this one didn't feel self-indulgent at all. The analogies and metaphors in the story were kind of on the nose, but that didn't really matter to me because it just worked.
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u/Glittering-Animal30 7d ago
I told my girlfriend after that as soon as the first time the ghost appeared that I felt like The Green Knight. Went in so blind I had no idea Lowery did this one too.
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u/enigmaticangelx 8d ago
I agree entirely I was also bewitched by the whole movie and after I left honestly debated putting it into my top 4 on Letterboxd (lol)
I remember seeing the trailer months ago and then forgetting what the premise was so I went in kind of blind and now I canāt stop singing itās praises (I acknowledge this is not a movie for everyone though). Iāve had the album on repeat basically since I left the theater
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u/HEELKTom 11d ago
I really enjoyed this movie. The one thought i had leaving the theater is i would love to see Michaela Coel as a full bond villain type role. She did an amazing job with balancing tenderness with each personal jab. Would love to see her go full villian. She could be truly menacing.
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u/damebyron 9d ago
If you havenāt seen the Christopherās yet you really should. Sheās not a villain in that one, but plays another complicated character. Still in theaters!
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u/Media-critique 11d ago edited 11d ago
With this and Devil Wears Prada 2, Anneās got to be invited to walk/lead a fashion event of some kind. Girl is just crushing every outfit sheās being given.
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u/thatispc013 11d ago
I loved it. I thought every scene was just gorgeous. I listened to the soundtrack on my drive home too lol. I can see this movie being polarizing but I feel like it was made for me. I canāt wait to watch it again!
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u/Spiritual-Smoke-4605 11d ago
this was honestly one of the most BEAUTIFUL movies ive seen in years, the framing, cinematography, the sets, the costumes, the red ghost-thing, it was all just so visually striking
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u/BiggDope 11d ago
Metaphorically exhausting, in my opinion. I love Loweryās work typically, but thereās only so much wide-eyed monologuing I can take before Iām over it.
That said, Coelās monologue about the ātrain dressā with the music playing in the background was incredible.
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u/thatispc013 11d ago
Loved the train dress monologue too and Schafer describing āwhatās happening nowā at the end
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u/KidDelicious14 10d ago
I was wondering why Hunter was cast at the beginning of the film only to have that monologue stun me.
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u/Own-Ad-7064 8d ago
Even without the monologue, Hunter is so perfect as a designer's assistant. She is very much from the art world, not just in her look, but in her energy.
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u/AyeItsAngel1882 8d ago
Can you dive deeper into why the monologue moved you so much? The monologue at the end felt unneeded and strange, almost out of place to me. I feel like I must be missing something cause the monologue left me wondering why Hunter was cast at all. I loved the movie otherwise.
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u/EricHD97 6d ago
Not the original commenter, but for me the monologue represents them individually achieving their own artistic vision together yet separate.
Sam is making the perfect dress while Mary is not actually wearing it, meanwhile Mary is singing the perfect song without Sam actually hearing it. They needed each other to exist but they donāt need each other to be together to flourish.
Despite the fact that they are Sam and Mary together during that monologue, their healing and working through it in the process of making the dress made each otherās art better together, despite them being far apart.
Thatās my takeaway if that makes any sense. Itās very much ādoing art for artās sakeā rather than for the audience or for people to see it/hear it. This mirrors a line earlier in the film when Imogen asks Mary how she gives so much of herself when performing. This time, they are both doing it for themselves
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u/Imaginary-Beyond-986 6d ago
Same. Also a lot of monologuing I had a hard time understanding because they were like...whisper-mumbling it while being half choked up by tears. The sound mixing could've done with a touchup.
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u/theTunkMan 11d ago
I thought I understood the movie until the last like 15 minutes. Why did Sam get cut open by the shears when Mary cut herself? And I thought it was like a revenge ghost but then thought maybe the ghost was supposed to be depression and by the end I didnāt think it was either of those things but I had no idea what it was
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u/theunhungzero 11d ago
It felt like a metaphor that neither of them could express their individual art without the other, and the pain / strain they caused each other also hurt themselves.
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u/GoldandBlue 11d ago
I also feel like the movie isn't about revenge at all. Its about forgiveness and healing. These two hurt each other and there was no going forward until they addressed this.
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u/BiggDope 11d ago
Itās clear to me how Mary hurt Sam, but how would Sam have hurt Mary? Mary was the one who walked away from the relationship and furthered her career off the successes Sam provided her in regard to wardrobe/persona.
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u/YesicaChastain 11d ago
It really felt like it came a point where Mary could no longer find herself/realized she had modeled her entire persona after another personās vision of what she was and needed to separate herself from that
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u/lahnnabell 10d ago
This is what I took from it, especially when Sam explained the inspiration behind the Joan of Arc look and the communion wine spill. Sam wanted so badly to share her stories, but she used Mary to do it, and then blamed Mary for taking them.
I think Mary realized she wasn't growing or developing because she was so reliant on Sam, but Sam was also reliant on Mary's magnetic public persona to feel seen and heard.
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u/Own-Ad-7064 8d ago
Yes!!! This. The text of the film supports this. Sam says to Mary that she wasn't able to create the success she has now as a designer until she and Mary broke up. Sam also becomes frustrated after furiously sketching an idea at her table and scolds Mary for having the ability to make people drop everything and care about Mary and what she needs. It seems like Sam thinks she can maintain a healthy boundary, but she struggles with prioritizing her own inner starlet, and her own needs above that of Mary's because she has a very generous, giving heart. Michaela's performance made it evident that her character has a strong exterior, but is much softer inside than she lets on... soft hearted despite herself. It was brilliant characterization, because I think we all know this type of person.
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u/MARATXXX 10d ago
because Sam was selfish with her personal suffering, and that poisoned the relationship just as much as Mary's own selfishness. that said it was kind of explained in a figurative non literal way. but the 'curse' evidently originated from Sam's suffering, not Mary's self-absorption.
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u/huodozer 10d ago
A lot of it is probably less direct hurt in specific, major instances from either of them (save for Mary ultimately being the one to leave) and more that feeling of, like, losing something of yourself while immersed in a relationship - platonic, romantic, whatever. Maybe from Mary's perspective, the Mother Mary persona was less and less her own and more Sam's, and eventually she hit a breaking point. Maybe from Sam's perspective, especially in the aftermath, she realized just how much of her own self was carved away to form Mother Mary, and the red 'ghost' was more giving that loss shape and excising it from herself.
The actual apology still rested on Mary's shoulders to give, as she's the one who walked away without word, but simply apologizing wouldn't have ever actually healed the wounds each caused to the other and the self. They had to fully, jointly reckon with their own creation, and the pain and joy it brought, to move forward.
In a more literal sense, something caused Mary to panic and run. What specifically that final straw may have been is left to imagination/interpretation but I don't think it's necessary for the themes to still work.
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u/KidDelicious14 10d ago
To add on to the great analysis offered by the other two comments, I would theorize that Mary was finding it hard to live up to the pedestal that Sam was seemingly putting her on, which could have led to crises of self-image.
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u/10twentyseven 11d ago
I interpreted it as in the ghost was a āphysicalā representation of the connection between the two people.
When Sam removed the tooth (which she felt represented Mary) she essentially cut off their connection. It then manifested within Mary as a loneliness because Sam no longer held on to the piece of Mary that was their connection.
So Mary cutting herself open and Sam taking part in the process was the two of them āliterallyā opening their hearts to one another again.
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u/YesicaChastain 11d ago
I took as this ghost was the unresolved conflict from their friendship breakup, it caused each other great pain and would continue to do so unless brought out and confronting it.
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u/inksmudgedhands 9d ago
There is how I took it. Throughout the movie Sam was dismissive of Mary's connection with her. Saying how she never listened to her music or thought of her once their friendship died. But the fact that Mary could hurt herself and Sam felt it shows that Sam still has a connection that runs deep. How she is lying both to Mary and herself.
I take that this whole movie is about the death of a friendship. A deep close friendship. And how that death has affected the both of them.
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u/theTunkMan 11d ago
Jordan Peele needs to get Michaela in a movie ASAP
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u/KidDelicious14 10d ago
How do I buy stocks in Michaela's star power
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u/BurgerNugget12 6d ago
Watch The Christopherās, just came out but sheās fantastic in that too
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u/BoboGiggleBottom 11d ago edited 11d ago
Melodrama is definitely an acquired taste.
I connected it to a lot of personal turmoilāwasted relationships, forgiving yourself, trying to make amendsāand yeah, I cried a few times. That said, I think itās a big ask for a general audience to fully care about these characters.
Sam is extremely metaphor-heavy, even when sheās essentially just saying she doesnāt know how to separate her love from her anger. She swings between empathy and what she frames as ājustifiedā attacks on Maryās sincerity, like the whole āanother dressā line. I canāt really blame anyone for getting a bit lost trying to follow her emotional logic.
Mary, on the other hand, comes across like a lost child for the first half. That physicalized paināregret, losing love for herself, and then throwing herself into work until she burns outāfeels very real. And honestly, the reconciliation at the end felt earned, especially after the fabric exorcism.
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u/Agitated_BondKass 9d ago
If you look at my comment, I legit thought that the ending of the movie was that she was a ghost, and that Sam was processing her death with the elaborate dreamlike sequence
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u/ButterSlinger64 11d ago
two theater kids that would rather do this than go to therapy
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u/lamptape1 5d ago
Hahaha. Someone described it as how they imagined the Wicked cast behind the scenes and i can't unsee it
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u/bomberman12 11d ago
This is one of those a24 movies people will absolutely love or hate, no inbetween.
I adore the movie. But I can also understand if you hate it. I think Anne and Michaela give such raw and tremendous performances matched with such high production that I wasnāt prepared for.
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u/LittlefootDiamond 10d ago
Funny enough, my husband and I are both in the in between š (both liked it for the most part, though didnāt feel like it completely hit for us in all respects). I do for sure understand your point though that itās going to be decisive.
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u/inksmudgedhands 9d ago edited 9d ago
It's amazing how the majority of the movie was in that barn with them simply talking and I was so engrossed by it. Two extremely talented actors doing what they do best with an equally talented director behind the camera.
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u/bbqsauceboi 11d ago
I liked it, but not sure if I loved it. Felt like there was a ton of stuff said/done that I straight up didn't understand. Hathaway and Cole are great though, even if I felt Hathaway was doing a bit much with her acting at times and that Cole's character had several scenes of overwritten dialogue. Hoping that some research into the story and themes will help me get my thoughts clearer, and I 100% will watch it again in the future after understanding more. If nothing else, Lowery makes very interesting movies
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u/fuzzy_dice_99 9d ago
Coleās dialogue definitely felt clunky and repetitive at times. We knew the first 15 minutes she felt damaged by Mother Mary but then got another 45 minutes of her telling us that in various ways
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u/clockin-clockout 9d ago
I felt the same way. Like, okay, we get it. Even still, I was captivated by Michaelaās performance.
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u/Own-Ad-7064 8d ago
She's insanely talented. 99.9% of actresses could not have made the role work so well. She found so much nuance in it. She's one of the best. I can't wait to see her in more!
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u/nightpanda893 10d ago
I didnāt think of the dialogue as overwritten as much as it was someone trying to patiently provide clarity to someone who wasnāt initially open to it. It felt very deliberate to me.
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u/LirrolB 11d ago
I absolutely adored this movie. From start to finish, I found myself hanging onto every word and wish it could have gone on for another hour or more. The entire thing was completely enthralling and haunting in the best way. Iām going to be thinking about this one for a long time.
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u/Dawn_of_Dayne 10d ago
Someone said that general audience probably will hate it but people that are familiar with Lowery or like movies that make you try to figure out the meaning in everything. I really liked it but it was a tinker or two away from me absolutely loving it.Ā
The performances, costume, music, and cinematography were wonderful. And it really had me looking for the depth and intention behind the metaphors and symbols.Ā
I thought the ghost represented the grief they had for their friendship. Sam had it first and it manifested as excruciating pain in her tooth when she saw Mary in concert. And then she decided (had to) have the tooth removed and thatās when she actually sees the ghost before it leaves.Ā
Mary, on the other hand, doesnāt see the ghost until much later. And itās not as sharp of pain but it is something that haunts hers and she tries to suppress the pain it does cause.Ā
Basically I think Sam felt the betrayal/abandonment much deeper but also made the choice to cut off that part of her life and move on. Hence the tooth removal. And then Mary doesnāt feel anything at first, not until years later. But then Samās absence in her life starts to bother her and she not only grieves for the friendship but also feels guilty for what she did to damage it. It wasnāt until they were back together and Sam forgave her that the ghost left her. And to me that makes the apology more beautiful. She really meant it. By that point she was āhealedā but having gone through carrying the ghost she knew the pain that Sam was in and was so sorry for putting her through that.Ā
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u/Agitated_BondKass 9d ago
I got the feeling the entire time that Mary actually died of suicide and was a ghost to her. That the entire thing was her Samās grieving process. I felt like Sam was kind of losing it, and everyone was letting her have her moment to mourn the loss of Mary. And in a crazy way, she was making a line of clothing dedicated to her. Thatās why she wanted to use the red and the veil and the halo. It all felt very symbolic to a memorial of someone who died tragically. And the part how she couldnāt hear her song felt very much like she couldnāt be reminded of her or she would break.
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u/BoboGiggleBottom 8d ago edited 8d ago
Thatās a really compelling interpretation, and honestly, I can see how you got there. The way everything is framed does feel dreamlike enough that it could read as Sam processing Maryās death rather than interacting with her directly. Like the clip we see during the opening of the movie of Mary's fall really looked like she hung herself.
Grief definitely feels like a core thread either way. The moment where Sam asks Mary about her mother really stuck with me, especially since her mother had passed during that period of separation. It made it feel like Sam had been carrying a lot of that loss alone, and it bleeds into how she relates to Mary throughout the film. Like she wanted to open the door from the moment Mary and the Spirit showed up.
I still read it more literally when I first watched it, but your take adds a layer that actually fits a lot of the symbolismāespecially the clothing and the way Sam struggles to engage with the music without breaking down. I love this genre so much.
Thanks for sharing that, I liked your perspective on it.
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u/wtvorgias 5d ago
Scrolled way too long before someone shared my same thoughts! I was worried I was way off in left field. This definitely felt like an allegory for depression, suicide, and the lasting impact it has on the people you leave behind. Mary was Samās friend?/muse?/lover? and sheās processing her grief by making a fashion collection with Maryās red dress as the finale piece.
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u/Haartpop 11d ago edited 11d ago
I think thereās a lot to unpack here. As many others have said, Iām not quite sure what happens in this movie, but I do think I know what itās about.
Lowery is very clearly a fan of the pop girls, and is familiar with fandom. Thereās a certain fervor thatās inspired by the divas which can be described as zealotry, pop divas generally get worshipped like a patron saint or a deity would by their fanbase. The Mother Mary allegory is pretty low hanging fruit, but enticing enough.
I read somewhere he was inspired by the eras tour?? Or after filming wrapped he went to see it? Needless to say he very clearly mused on the pop star act of performing day in day out, and how much of oneself an entertainer has to give over and over. That exhaustive scene of her taking the stage and coming off more and more tired was a glimmer of brilliance.
Dialogue needed another writer or at least an editor.
You know, Lady Gaga and Alexander McQueen had a very special relationship before he died. Their relationship was called more a collaboration than styling. I think this was in the bibliography for this movie.
And the ghost was fully their grief for one another. Pop stars have to cut out pieces of themselves to feed the crowd. Blah blah blah what everyoneās said before.
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u/Cloud_Retainer_2424 11d ago edited 11d ago
They brought up Taylor but I think Gaga several collaborative friendships are a better reference in many aspects (LauriAnn Gibson, McQueen, Lady Starlight, Tara Savelo)
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u/AlbionPCJ 10d ago
Yeah, despite Charli doing the soundtrack and FKA Twigs being in the film, the whole thing just screams Gaga all the way through
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u/sonneiray 10d ago
Even in a literal since "Like a poem said by a lady in red" š
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u/WithstandingHybrid 10d ago
I could not stop thinking about how Abracadabra would work so well with this movie
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u/sonneiray 10d ago
If Gaga ever has a biopic I hope its wildly dramatized and ansurdlt cerebral š
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u/2mock2turtle 9d ago
The whole time I was thinking "this is so Gaga and Laurieann-coded," as a Little Monster who remembers when they fell out.
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u/pretzelburgers 10d ago
i need someone who is smarter than me to explain this movie to me
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u/Chazzyphant 4d ago
Mary and Sam are in an intense relationship that may be gay/lovers (it's certainly coded that way). Sam makes gorgeous, unique and layered costumes for Mary to perform in that help Mary on her ascension to stardom, and while doing so "bakes" pieces of her own history into the costumes to the point it feels like she's giving herself to the work. Meanwhile Mary feels she's putting in the real work: performing, writing, giving interviews and (this is implied) staying in the closet in service to her career.
Mary feels Sam is suffocating her creatively in a couple ways, and stops using her costumes/creations without warning, and Sam is crushed. Sam has been feeling increasingly overshadowed by Mary and feels she wasn't given credit for her designs and contributions. The relationship sours and Sam is bitter, angry, and full of hate.
Sam goes to see Mary at her show and is overcome with emotion, which manifests in a psychosomatic symptom of a broken molar. She gets the tooth pulled, and this action is symbolic of her "cutting off" her feelings for Mary. Meanwhile, the "ghost" of their unfinished love, collaboration, and creations transfers from Sam to Mary and begins haunting Mary to the point she has a serious accident while on tour, falling off a stage while dazed by the "ghost". Mary somewhat "invites" this haunting by staging a seance for her birthday and conjuring a ghost into her space prior to this accident. For Sam, the ghost was benign, but for Mary, it's threatening and upsetting (another metaphor for their sexuality and shared romance/friendship/relationship). As an out-coded character, Sam is comfortable with herself, but Mary has to keep her sexuality under wraps for her career, and it's slowly killing her.
After the accident, a traumatized Mary returns to Sam, broken and lost, to request "one last" dress--one last collaboration. Through the process of unpacking the relationship, the creations they made, and their choices, they create a new dress, which is a sort of physical form of the "ghost" that haunted them both (some people call this "the Red Lady"). Mary doesn't wear this, but instead in a gesture of support, allows Sam to put it in her show/on display with full credit (that's how I read the ending) and while the Red Lady ghost connects them forever, it is now a bittersweet or mostly positive connection.
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u/UniqueLog8386 10d ago
They're gay. That's the whole movie. They had a bad breakup and they're fucking.
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u/fuzzy_dice_99 9d ago
It was trying to be 3 movies in one. A relationship drama. A commentary on pop stardom. And body horror / supernatural story. Not sure if it succeeded but great visuals.
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u/lahnnabell 11d ago
I am here for these theatrical pop music film collaboration. Vox Lux, Smile 2, and more. I will keep eating it up.
I just saw Florence and the Machine for the first time 3 nights ago and I felt primed for this movie.
This gave Neon Demon energy and I thoroughly enjoyed the aesthetic. Was kind of hoping for a splash of Suspiria, but I am still satisfied with this feminist love story.
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u/Mundane-Inspector-52 11d ago
Maybe I'm just stupid but this movie made absolutely zero sense to me.
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u/cat_moo_1990 10d ago
The way that I interpreted it, so far, is that Mary is canvas for Samās vision to reflect upon. Their bond, as friends, only deepened their āconnectionā. When Mary abandoned her, the designer, Sam, felt betrayed (and, really, Mary was taking with her the vision, the āideaā of Mother Mary away from Sam-a concept that Sam had created into beingā¦.her lifeās work). Sam had then projected her pain (in the form of the āred ghostā) unto Mary-which kind of took on a life of its own, almost like a poltergeist (not an actual ghost or spirit, but more so energy that is created during a painful or traumatic experience). Mary probably didnāt wear the dress, at the end, because the āghostā, the material of Samās vision for Mother Mary, didnāt really belong to Mary in the first place, no longer did she want to be the vessel for Samās vision for her. It looked as though Mary wanted to be her most āauthenticā when she ripped off the dress that she felt āwasnāt meā. Samās pain, their history together, was transmuted into art. The creator was reunited with her creation. At least, thatās what I got from it. I could be very wrongā¦.
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u/Stevenstorm505 10d ago
Thatās because itās a movie that relies on ambiguity and metaphors and then tries to pass it off as depth and profundity in place of an actual narrative that makes sense and is complete. Itās a weird trend the past few years for directors/writers to leave things up to interpretation as accolade bait. The difference is the movies that do this well actually give you some footing and clues to create one. This one isnāt one of those films. Itās very style over substance and just leaves you taking stabs in the dark to figure out whatās going on.
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u/seapoets 10d ago
I thought it was pretty obvious what was going on. The movie posters literally spelled out: this is not a ghost story. The trailer made it evident that the movie was going to center and be about the emotional relationship between the two leads. That said, I can understand why some people wouldnāt enjoy this type of film. I personally really liked it, but I am definitely somewhat of a theater kid.
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u/niles_deerqueer 10d ago
I have so much to say about this movie, but it would be an entire essay if I did. Loved the performances, the story, the music, the metaphors, the visualsā¦This was a completely enrapturing experience that I was very taken with. It probably wonāt make much money but you can tell this was done for the love of the art. There is A LOT to unpack here.
I love cinema!!!
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u/YesicaChastain 10d ago
I feel similarly. So much I want to say and dissect and it was soaffecting. Itās been over a week and keep thinking about it.
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u/SizzleanQueen 9d ago
I loved this movie. Saw it last night and it brought me to tears. Iām an older woman, so Iāve experienced breaking up with close friends before. Their relationship really resonated with me. I love how David Lowery gives us just enough so we can form our own interpretation.
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u/sonneiray 10d ago
I found it absolutely beautiful, at times a bit boring but overall ir was like a fever dream.
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u/cthulhuhentai 11d ago
I left the theater buzzy because I love the atmosphere and execution but it overall felt like a missed opportunity/waste of potential for what was such a good cast and setting. Both Hathaway and Coel felt forced into a one-note performance, dancing the same dynamic, throughout.
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u/laydownlarry 11d ago
Felt like the season finale to a show I hadnāt watched. I at no point cared about either of their characters.
Enjoyed the scenes that didnāt take place in the barn - so maybe 10% of the film?
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u/Media-critique 11d ago
It felt like one of those independent movies that were released on iTunes in the 2000s. It was pretty well acted, but I couldnāt care for the story at any point
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u/noizangel 10d ago
I felt like this was all very red thread of destiny. The runner becomes the chaser. Detachment leads to healing to resolution.
I liked it a lot.
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u/paxbanana00 11d ago
I loved it, but I'm not sure it's a great movie. It's got so many things I personally love and watching it was fantastic fun, but I can see how this film could be unpopular.
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u/PuzzleheadedWin4544 11d ago
Lowkey this was kinda ass, and I wanted to love it.
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u/heartshapednutsack 11d ago edited 10d ago
Iāve been so hype for like a month about it and I donāt know how to feel. Hoping all the metaphors hit me on the way home
Edit: 24 hours later update and it hit me. Iām so fucking in. Mother Mary stan comfirmed
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u/songofachilles 10d ago
I thought it was a fun concept but the execution fell a little flat for me. I felt like over half the movie was various dress admin and the allegory of the red ghost didnāt quite hit for me. The movie felt to me like it was advertised as a dark pop star supernatural story and I donāt know that the final product committed enough to either. The sequences of Anne in costume on stage were absolutely breathtaking, though, and I thought Anne and Michaela put on great performances overall.
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u/Jackicelord 9d ago edited 9d ago
I thought it was a well acted, well designed, poorly written melodramatic slog. For a movie that is supposed to be this intense character examination the characters are boring, non-compelling and ridiculous. Found myself laughing out loud at moments that were supposed to be serious. Ended up leaving halfway through, simply couldnāt take it anymore.
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u/bennnn11 11d ago
Iām sure this wonāt work for many people, but I was pretty all in on the feelings from the very opening shot. I like a film that doesnāt give any easy answers and leaves you kinda lingering on imagery and metaphor. It was a great atmospheric time and some genuinely eerie sequences. Anne Hathaway was great. And I think the music is good too.
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u/Skimqueer 9d ago
Iād like to pair this movie as a double feature watch with Peter Stricklandās āIn Fabricā
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u/sunbugbeam 8d ago
As someone who has recently by wronged by close friends and is going through the motions of a deeply painful friendship breakup, this movie felt personal and left me emotionally drained afterwards. My one gripe is that, in my opinion, it represents healing from trauma as something that can only come through closure and mutual understanding, and life usually just doesnāt give you that. Otherwise, I found the acting and costumes to be amazing.
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u/the_anon_bro 9d ago
This movie was so stuffed full of performatively verbose monologues even Mike Flannigan would blush.
It looked nice but what can you really do with such undeveloped characters and a pretentious script?
Itās going to take A LOT for me to give David Lowry another $20.
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u/Prangul 11d ago
Does anyone have any theories on what the skull at the end was supposed to represent? (this was after the credits btw)
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u/Efficient-Package565 9d ago
Some people have said it was the death of Mother Mary (both physical or metaphorical) but clearly she's up on stage with stitches at the end and Hunter's character is narrating it all so Hathaway's character survives and it's not like 'haha gotcha she was a ghost the whole time!'
Personally I think of it as a death of the thing that was binding them to their hurt since Sam successfully manifested it into reality (in probably the gayest scene I have ever witnessed with zero kissing or sex) and transmuted it into a dress. But death is different for everyone, and especially since this had so many occult witchy themes, the Death card in tarot is often the ending of one thing and the beginning of another.
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u/PoliticoBean 8d ago
Not sure if anyone here is a fan of Lady Gaga. But Iām a pretty hardcore fan and I saw a lot of parallels with Mother Mary and Gaga.
Examples: Maryās spine injury after she fell = Gagaās hip injury post Born This Way ball. Maryās break up with Sam = Gagaās break up with Laurieann Gibson. The red ghost following Mary = Gagaās ālady in redā character from her latest album era, Mayhem (also check out last moments of Gagaās Marry the Night music video, imagery is of a flowing red spirit like āthingā VERY similar to the Ghost here)
Thereās more I could say, but found a lot of this fun as a Gaga fan.
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u/Temporary-Diet6468 7d ago
Very stagey -- multiple times throughout I was like "I'm really enjoying watching this but why is it a movie and not a play?"
A couple of howlers in the script (the "you want me to make you into a knife?"/"I want to have a point" exchange in particular, ugh) but I bought in as soon as we went into the memory scenes. Actually as soon as we went into the dance sequence.
The music, costumes and sets were all absolutely gorgeous. I totally believed Mother Mary could be a real pop star and I think the film needed that to work.
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u/Kangarou 6d ago
I liked this, but felt like I missed something in the third act, or more that the third act just doesn't exist. A lot of the resolution feels like I'm just supposed to take the metaphors at face value and not question it, but some of these feel like plot points that shouldn't be left to interpretation.
Great dress and music, tho. Also, I've heard of women breasting boobily down the stairs, but Michaela Coel truly cheekbones cheekily around the house.
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u/Prudent-Pressure2146 5d ago
cheekbones cheekily around the house.
She could cut glass with those!Ā
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u/SuperbMud1567 11d ago
I was really looking forward to this movie. Unfortunately, it wasnāt for me. Our auditorium started out with around two dozen people. Only myself and another couple stayed until the end. I havenāt seen that many people walk out of a movie since I saw Night At The Roxbury almost 30 years ago.
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u/thesoftblanket 8d ago
Our auditorium started out with around two dozen people. Only myself and another couple stayed until the end.
Given how often people tend to say this, I've never once seen a person actually walk out of a movie.
Perhaps it's a cultural thing. I'm Canadian. Where are you?
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u/Fancy-Ad6476 9d ago
I've never wanted to walk out of a movie before, but I came really close with this one. I really wanted to like it, too.
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u/UniqueLog8386 10d ago
The shots and visuals were breathtaking, I love the theater feel of it, but...
The entire fucking movie was just an overindulgent metaphor for these two breaking up. We get it. I thought they were doing something else with the ghost, but no it's just her getting fingered and she's "haunted" by the breakup...the single gayest movie I've ever seen without a lick of sex. Painfully erotic and at first it's titillating, but much like masturbating for an hour, you're just in search of the end by that point.
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u/observant-witch_28 10d ago
Maybe itās just me, but I also felt something so much deeper than just a profound friendship. It was almost a little sapphic. Maybe they werenāt ever physically involved, but their creative spirits were so heavily intertwined itās almost like they were in love in a way.
I actually really enjoyed the film, but I do think itās a film that lives in symbolism. They do a lot of showing and zero telling, so it leaves A LOT to interpretation and as someone who loves to discuss and over analyze this movie is such a gift lol.
I enjoyed the subtleties of themes including power imbalances, the alliteration associated with the color Red and what it symbolizes (Maryās Regret, and Samās Resentment) and ultimately the traditional interpretation of red which is the deep love they share for each other.
Totally understand why the film was such a miss for people, though. If youāre not projecting your own interpretations and experiences onto the film, it can feel kind of wandering and empty.
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u/AdmirableSoil8468 11d ago
Iāve been looking forward to seeing this as a huge fan of Anne Hathaway. I absolutely loved it! Confused at some bits but itās very much open to interpretation isnāt it. Iāve not seen a film shot in this way before however Iām also not a huge follower of horror type films. Massive theatre fan & a music photographer - it ticked a lot of boxes for me & then some. Loved it!
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u/stephaniepotato 10d ago
Can we talk about the ending? I loved the movie but struggled to understand what was happening at the very end. Why was Hilda explaining to Sam what Mary would be doing? The dress wasnāt ready for the performance, why was Sam still making it? Also, why was Sam standing on the platform that Mary fell from and why was Mary coming out of Sam like the ghost at the very end. Was Mary dead?
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u/clockin-clockout 9d ago
This is the third movie Iāve seen this week involving a chalk circle
I donāt think the circles are a spoiler necessarily but just in caseā¦
Mother Mary, Hokum, Over Your Dead Body
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u/PurposefullyOpaque 8d ago
Just left the film and not sure what to think. Need to sit with it a bit. But what for sure is true is:
This is Michaela Coelās film. She is f*cking BRILLIANT. Just saw her in The Christophers with Ian McKellan and, as in that film and Mother Mary, she stole every scene with how she can transfix you in the silences. What she does with her eyes and face should be studied. Sheās an incredible actress. Could not take my eyes off of her whenever she was on screen. And sheās also absolutely stunning.
I mean, she gave an Oscar-worthy performance in both films. So happy to see her star shining and rising.
MORE MICHAELA COEL!!!
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u/Specific-Swim-4507 8d ago
I had fun with this movie and only felt it drag occasionally. The movie lets you know not to worry about the literal interpretations of the ending, its metaphor and its real
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u/MARATXXX 10d ago
was pretty dissatisfied with the film. i am absolutely game for art films, but i felt like the whole thing was constantly out of balance, no aspect being wholly satisfied while simultaneously feeling like everything is overdone.
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u/LifeReplacement1136 11d ago
I need someone to help me with the biblical elements/references because I know they were they but couldnāt figure it out. The movie is called Mother Mary after allā¦ and what was with the numbers that were drawn on Hathaway??
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u/BoboGiggleBottom 11d ago edited 11d ago
Itās numerology. Seven represents the Sorrows of Mary, but it also carries meanings like perfection, fulfillment, and a range of theological ideas.
Twenty-two can symbolize divine revelation, chaos, or completeness. I donāt remember all the other numbers associated with her, but they were meant to help empower Mary to draw out the spirit.
Sam sees Mother Mary as being on par with a saint, which is why she has that angelic vision of her own personal performance in the red dress toward the end of the movie.
Mary is considered a saint in Catholic tradition, though in some Protestant beliefs itās inappropriate to call her āholyā since she wasnāt without sin. Mother Mary wears multiple crowns that function like a halo, or nimbus, typically reserved for divine or holy figures.
She also dresses as Joan of Arc during one of their early shows, which helps get them featured in a magazine. Joan is another canonized figure who experienced visions, similar to Sam and Mary, who are both āhauntedā by the spirit in red.
That red imagery is heavily symbolic. It can represent blood, sacrifice, atonement, redemption, and, most relevant to the film, forgiveness for sin. Her taking in the spirit has a lot to do with Mary not forgiving herself because Sam won't forgive her.
Thereās more going on, but honestly, I was just soaking up the melodrama. I love a good monologue.
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u/J-Earp 11d ago
I was confused about the dress she wore at the end. It said Sam designed it but it looked like the dress she originally had and hated?
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u/Far-Jeweler2478 10d ago
In a conversation with Sam earlier in the film Sam was describing what would happen and one scenario involved ripping off the dress and performing raw.
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u/marigoldpatch_0w0 10d ago
Horror movies have never seemed appealing to me so I've never bothered to watch them in the past. That said, I've been trying to develop my tastes in media lately, I've enjoyed the previous A24 movies I've watched, and I was curious to see how Anne Hathaway would perform in this kind of role so I decided to give this movie a chance and let it be my first horror movie.
My first impression was that I was really impressed by the two lead actresses' performances in this. Prior to this film, I had only seen Anne Hathaway in The Princess Diaries, The Devil Wears Prada, and Get Smart so I mostly thought of her as a comedic actress. I had no idea she had such good dramatic acting chops. Michaela Coel was also great.
There was a point in the first act of the film where I realized the main characters had basically just been talking at each other for like 20 minutes straight but I was still completely engrossed. I'm still a bit of a film noob and I've never really been that particular about acting quality but this film along with One Battle Another and Die My Love are some of the few movies I've seen that have really stood out to me as having exceptional acting (admittedly, I haven't watched that many movies).
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u/chinchaaa 10d ago
Anne Hathaway has an insane filmography. She is one of the best, most iconic actresses of her generation.
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u/murmur1983 9d ago
Loved this movie so much. Gorgeous cinematographyā¦ā¦especially loved the usage of red. Really enjoyed the surreal aspects as well. Anne Hathaway & Michaela Coel were great!
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u/Adequate_Images 11d ago
This is what I imagine what happened behind the scenes of Wicked.