Charlotte - Film Studies Blog

Mother! is arguably one of the most confusing, captivating films I have witnessed; with the names of each characters barely allowing any preconceived ideas, mainly to the nature of their personalities, the elusive atmosphere created instantly attracted my attention. The plot of this film leaves much open to interpretation and definitely challenges classic horror conventions.  The entirety of the film is set in an old style Victorian house, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, surrounded entirely by a circle of trees and dense forest. This ties in with the classic horror cliche of an isolated, old house which is played to in a lot of new and old films within the genre. The residence of this house are Mother, played by Jennifer Lawrence, and Man, played by Javier Bardem, who both have a mysterious air around them. Lawrence plays a young wife, who seems to be restoring the house to its former glory, as her husband, a famous poet, struggles with intense writers block. Things seem quite

The Basic Definitions: Cinematography - use of camera and lighting (angles, shot types and movement)                                    e.g. mid-shot, close-ups, zooms, high and low camera angles, pan shot,                                    tracking Editing - the relationship between the shots, how they follow each other                  e.g. cuts, fades Mis-En-Scene - what's in the shot/scene                               e.g. props, costumes, backgrounds, and their significance Sound - music, sound effects and spoken word within a scene (diegetic and non-dietetic) Performance - the performance of the actors and how they add to the scene                            e.g. action and reaction