Mother Mary (2026) A24/Drama-Thriller RT: 112 minutes Rated R (some violent content and language) Director: David Lowery Screenplay: David Lowery Music: Daniel Hart Cinematography: Andrew Droz Palermo and Rina Yang Release date: April 24, 2026 (US) Cast: Anne Hathaway, Michaela Coel, Hunter Schafer, FKA Twigs, Atheena Frizzell, Kaia Gerber, Jessica Brown Findlay, Isaura Barbe-Brown, Alba Baptista, Sian Clifford.
Rating: ½*
I did something I never, ever do while watching Mother Mary. I prayed. It went something like this:
O Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and Earth, I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart to succor me in my misery as I endure this pretentious piece of shart.
To my Catholic friends, please don’t be offended by my misuse of the Prayer to the Blessed Virgin. I was in pure torment.
Mother Mary, an absolutely awful psychological thriller that rivals only last year’s Hurry Up Tomorrow in its utter pretentiousness and pointlessness, is the work of A24 (who else?) and writer-director David Lowery (The Green Knight). It stars Anne Hathaway (The Devil Wears Prada) as the title character, a deeply troubled art-pop singer returning to the music scene after some kind of crisis forced her to step out of the spotlight for a spell. Everything must be exactly right for her comeback concert where she’ll be singing her new song (“the best song in the history of songs”) for the first time. The dress chosen for her performance is all wrong. It doesn’t represent her.
The distressed artist flees to England to pay a surprise visit to her former costume designer Sam (Coel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever). They were close before Mary chose stardom over their friendship. Needless to say, Sam isn’t exactly elated to see her old friend (and possibly lover) and is even less enthused about designing and assembling a special dress with only a few days before the big night. Regardless, she accepts the job and sets to creating a work of art.
It goes without saying there’s a lot of resentment on Sam’s end. She helped Mary to get where she is only to be left behind. She makes her feelings abundantly clear to Mary. She no longer listens to her music. She won’t even let her play her great new song for her. In the only time Mother Mary comes to something resembling life, Sam has the singer perform the dance she plans to do without the music. A disheveled, barefoot Mary starts to move and transforms into something fierce and animalistic. It’s almost like some external force is controlling her. When she finishes, the movie resumes its meaningless existence.
There’s some kind of weird bond between Mary and Sam. It involves a red ghostly figure. As the movie progresses, they both start to unravel psychologically. I have to be honest here. I really have no idea what’s going on in Mother Mary. But here’s the thing. I DON’T CARE! There’s abstract then there’s absurd. This movie is definitely the latter. It strives to be deep and meaningful only to land flat on its face with each miscalculated artistic decision. We know the dress is some kind of metaphor. For what, I have no idea. If somebody could explain…. on second thought, don’t bother.
Mother Mary is self-important, overwritten and way too in love with itself. It’s also a ponderous bore. I fought to stay awake even though I knew I wouldn’t miss anything if I closed my eyes for a few minutes. Not a whole hell of a lot happens save for a séance or two. It’s mostly the two main characters talking in a single setting, the barn Sam uses as a workshop. There’s a lot of dialogue, all of it nonsensical in its labored attempt to sound deep. We get lines like “Every moment is specific” in response to Sam’s comment about an accessory being from a specific moment. What does that even mean? It sounds like something a pseudo-intellectual community college student might say to impress a girl.
The songs contributed by Charli XCX, Jack Antonoff and FKA Twigs (who shows up in one scene as….. ah, who cares?) are both dull and overproduced. Hathaway appears to be attempting a bizarre amalgam of Lady Gaga, Britney Spears and Madonna. Her adoring audience, depicted mostly as disembodied cheering and floating cell phone lights, eats it all up which confirms Mother Mary is set in some strange universe where such musical pabulum is celebrated as art. Wait a minute…..
Hathaway’s performance in Mother Mary is pretty much limited to her walking around with a tormented look on her face when she’s off-stage. She doesn’t look much happier when she’s on-stage. It’s her worst performance since Serenity (2019). Coel fares a half-tad better as the slighted designer who might be gaslighting Mary as a means of revenge. The other actresses (NO men in this universe!) aren’t even worth mentioning. They’re basically back-up dancers in a drama with no rhyme, rhythm or reason.
The only reason I’m not giving Mother Mary the dreaded “NO STARS!!!” is for Mary’s uninhibited dance scene. I’d like it even more if it was surrounded by a decent movie. It’s not. It’s not even watchable. It’s aggravating, exhausting and stultifyingly boring. Its parental rights should be terminated immediately with no visitation. 
