Long-buried wounds rise to the surface when iconic pop star Mother Mary (Anne Hathaway) reunites with her estranged best friend and former costume designer Sam Anselm (Michaela Coel) on the eve of her comeback performance.
Anne Hathaway has genuinely been on a roll this year with The Devil Wears Prada 2 and Mother Mary, plus The Odyssey trailer all dropping back to back.
Mother Mary is visually stunning. Every frame feels like a moving art piece. The costumes are absolutely magnificent, and Anne somehow looks even more glorious here than she did in TDWP2.
Despite being a film about a popstar, Mother Mary avoids typical musical tropes and instead focuses entirely on the complicated relationship between these two women; the pain, resentment, history, and weird emotional magnetism that pulled them back together.
I also liked how committed the film was to focusing almost entirely on the two main characters without diluting the story with unnecessary side plots or distractions.
What really stayed with me was how the film shows that the pain one person causes can eventually circle back to them. Their shared trauma fuels both of their artistic brilliance and professional success while also showing how pain can remain for years and still become the thing that keeps two people tied together.
And in this case, even after making amends, it feels like they still may never cross paths again. But maybe that’s the point. Maybe healing doesn’t always mean staying in each other’s lives forever.
Anne was also surprisingly believable as a pop star, and having the music done by Charli XCX and Jack Antonoff obviously makes the whole thing feel even more authentic.
That dance scene with no music, just Anne in an all-black tank top and joggers dancing to what’s supposed to be her new song “Spooky Action”, was honestly one of the best scenes in the movie. It starts with these slow movements, and then, suddenly, she looks fully possessed, as if a ghost has taken over her body through the choreography.
Having said all that, most of the time I was also just staring at Anne’s arms because wow… that woman WORKS out. Those arms were actual goals.
The Ouija board scene with FKA Twigs was incredible too, as was the montage of Mother Mary entering and exiting stages, with the edits cutting between her onstage persona and private self. Mother Mary’s falling scene was another standout; so beautiful and sad.
Sam’s scissor scene scare, as well as the wisdom tooth removal, were scary and hilarious at the same time.
And even though Hunter Schafer (she played Sam’s assistant, Hilda) didn’t have a huge part in the movie, I was distracted every single time she appeared on screen because she genuinely looked unreal. Other cameos included Kaia Gerber, Sian Clifford, and Alba Baptista.
Overall, Mother Mary is not great, and it’s also very slow. Still, it completely pulls you in with its immersive visuals and intensity, as even when I wasn’t fully connecting to the story, I was still locked into the visuals the entire time.
Our rating – 3/5
