(Film: Mother Mary | Essay / Review Containing Major Spoilers) An Analysis of Sam Anselm and Mother Mary's Relationship Through the Lens of the Tie-In Album
Mother Mary is a film I have looked forward to since I first saw people talking about it last year. I've kept it far in the back of my mind to prevent myself from being consumed by excitement, but even then, as soon as the movie was released and the songs became available for streaming, I listened to "Mother Mary: Greatest Hits" on repeat to allay some of the nerves (good way) I felt to watch it. The thesis I want to discuss here is I think, quite surface level, but these thoughts have been running through my mind since the first time I heard the album in its entirety. Now, I want to create a chance for me to express my interpretation in a coherent and cohesive manner. So, I will be talking about Sam Anselm and Mother Mary's relationship prior to their break through the lens of the tie-in album.
The first title in the album is Holy Spirit, which I consider to be written from Mary's point of view. From a Watsonian perspective, these songs are all from the pop star's. But as I listen to the album and read the lyrics as they play, I have come to believe that if we look at these shards of their story from a Doylist perspective, three are from Mary's, three are from both artist-characters, and one is purely from Sam's.
I can't believe what I've found
I'm staring into the dark, so powerful
My knees are pressed to the ground
I'm holding on for dear life, it's mythical
Holy Spirit is the most traditional pop song from the seven that we have melodically speaking. It is the most energetic, lively, and bright. Completely optimistic and hopeful. The lyrics exploring what might be interpreted as the beginning of their relationship as collaborators. How they are pulled to each other artistically and personally. Their interests and methods of expression fusing in a way that feels electric. It is their dynamic as artistic and as friends explored in this song from Mary's eyes.
This black suit fits like a glove, I was born to be the widow of love
Won't lose myself to a touch, I was born to be the widow of love
||
Chapstick and chapped lips, downtown lofts
Red rouge lip makeup, sick enough
Honey, please I'm so empty
You're the one for me, you see
Burial is one of the two singles released before the movie and is an outlier in the first half of the album, sonically. Its music is moody and has a darker tone than tracks one, three, and four, which leads me to believe that it is about how they created the "Mother Mary" persona and aesthetic rather than it telling us directly how their relationship evolved. But I can't properly speak of this song without discussing My Mouth is Lonely For You, which is the other single. Beyond the dynamic we are shown in the movie and the chemistry produced by the acting choices of Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel, this song, its lyrics, are the reason I have the opinion that the protagonists were previously lovers. Its music flows how spending time with a person you adore and can be yourself with unabashedly feels like. These two songs are one unit, their story seen from the unified perspective of Mary and Sam. It is them at their best with each other prior to the rift that develops between them. The reason as to why these were chosen to be the singles, the ones to set the tone for the movie is apparent, I think. Fashion and artistry are as much part of the story's core as the relationship of our protagonists.
You got that cold feeling
Your sacred heart's blue
Do you know what to pray for anymore?
Or if you can make it through?
...
My sacred heart's been feeling blue
Should I have faith in anything?
Oh, I'll cut myself to make some room
And let out all that wasn't you
Holy Spirit 2 is a change, in that it is the only song that tells their story purely from Sam's point of view. Out of the two of them, it is only her whose religious experience we know. She had communion. She spilled wine on her dress. She was the one who crowned Mary with her halo. And so this title is the most obvious to uncover whose perspective we are hearing:
But me, I was raised up to believe.
A direct quote from the beginning of the song. For most of it, we are only told more of what has already been known to us through the prior songs. They are electric and triumphant and so artistically fulfilled and compatible. But the beginning and end of it shows us the cracks starting to form. Mary is dissatisfied or directionless and Sam consoles and supports her by turning her into the central figure of her life. But of course, it isn't healthy for anyone to only have one important thing in their life. It is implied through the last lines of the song that it isn't enough for Sam either, to have only her muse as the only thing she has to cherish. Part of the reason why Mary leaving struck so deep, I'm certain.
Now I got the taste of blood in my mouth
Hate the way you got me, but I ain't gonna spit you out
...
Kiss me like you love me while you're pulling me deeper down
Tied together here, forever we're bound
Dark Cradle's music is suitably dark for what it is about. Mary chafing at her relationship with her designer. Still thrilling to be understood so deeply and to work with someone whose visions align with yours but their closeness has either become claustrophobic or felt like an anchor holding her down. A burden. Sam knows her in a way that is painful to her now and yet still she does not want to let her partner go. Her partner whether you consider them to be past romantic loves or friends.
Blue flame, it's burnin' up
She's reachin' out, she's reachin' out
Your name was in my mouth
She took it out, she took it out
...
Don't speak, look at us now
Beautiful stars up off the ground
And then it becomes untenable. Blue Flame is Mary's ambition embodied by her persona growing heavier than her desire to hold on. Maybe anger at being constrained by how Sam sees her and feeling unable to live up to them or wanting to be more than what the person closest to her wants her to be.
Lose your will to believe, and once again believe
Then if in the end you're not free, cut a deal, please
...
Used to walk with you 'til I saw something bigger
I jumped into the flames and I shook hands with forever
Had to cut ties
To be starlight
...
Chained to the heaven I like
Chained to the heaven I like, this heaven of mine
In the film when the paranormal phenomena begin, it starts with Sam recounting how she first saw the Red Ghost. How she watched it leave her house and felt the wrath and hatred flow out of her along with it. Of course it doesn't completely go away. We see these present within her as she and Mary interact through the film. But the active burning has passed. And I think if Mary never went back to her, she would remember her once-friend as a sweet time of her life that ended painfully. More bittersweet than simply bitter or sour. The first verse of Cut Ties, I believe is from Sam's perspective. The language is framed as being recounted from Mary's point of view, but the message of it is from Sam, or possibly how Mary wants Sam to have felt when she left her. The song recounts their history and Mary's career. But regardless in the end we see how the pop star regrets her choice. In the final chorus and post-chorus we hear Anne Hathaway singing, but underneath it, the first time she says "cut ties", the screaming starts and grows louder in volume until the performance and the turmoil of her character's emotions are equal in prominence to the listener.
We the audience do not see much of what the dynamic of these two artist-characters were. We are not privy to the details or exact nature of their whole relationship and while the ending leaves us with a hopeful tone, we do not know where they will choose to take their mended bond. The metaphor that is the Red Ghost representing Sam's pain transferring and transforming into Mary's regret blurring the story further. It is part of why I wanted to write this out. To give structure to my interpretation and set my racing mind to rest on this subject. And so we have arrived to the end. I have conflicting feelings about Mother Mary, the movie. I was so excited to watch it. I wanted to love it so much. And I absolutely did love the first half where it was just Sam and Mary talking. Us being shown hints of who they are and what their relationship was and now is. But I feel that the near-overuse of metaphor in the latter half of the story hobbled the emotional impact it could have had on its audience. After watching it, I felt empty inna neutral way. I didn't know what to think. Because even though I enjoyed it, I was still let down. I took a shower. I scrubbed myself clean and brushed my teeth and tongue until I was gagging on the verge of vomiting. I was desperately thinking of a reason to love it and couldn't find one.
I wanted to love Mother Mary. But for me, it did not reach the heights a story could touch and be in to be immortalized in the lives and memory of its audience. Instead it lives in my mind through the question of what it could have been, and the knowledge of knowing it could have been so much more.