Reviews

Anne Hathaway has shown off her singing skills on-screen before in Ella Enchanted and Les Misérables (for which she won an Oscar) but she’s taken her musical talents to a whole new level as a global pop star in Mother Mary.

David Lowery’s film follows the troubled pop singer as she shows up unexpectedly at the studio of her former costume designer Sam Anselm (Michaela Coel) in London after having a crisis during a costume fitting.

Despite being estranged for 10 years, Mother Mary asks Sam to make her a dress for a show in three days. And although she hates her former friend and knows it is an impossible task, Sam accepts the request.

The film begins as a meaty, dialogue-driven chamber piece about two estranged friends airing their grievances and dissecting why they fell out, while Sam asks Mary questions about her show and music to help her creatively with the dress.

But, in a twist that will prove maddening to many, the story takes an unexpected turn for the supernatural and becomes weird, vague and slow, opting for atmosphere over clear answers. It feels like a totally different film from the first half.

Thankfully, we still get plenty of scenes of Hathaway in pop star performance mode. Clearly taking inspiration from Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga’s shows, these concert scenes are visually stunning, well-staged, and Hathaway looks fantastic in the Oscar-worthy costumes.

However, her voice is sadly overproduced, her stage performances are serious instead of fun and/or camp, and the songs – written by Jack Antonoff, Charli XCX and FKA Twigs – are rather unmemorable.

Despite these issues, there is no denying the beautiful visuals, Daniel Hart’s pulsating score and Hathaway and Coel’s performances.

Hathaway has to play two very different sides to her character – the strong Mother Mary persona in public and the broken, depressed and emotionally vulnerable Mary who shows up at Sam’s design studio.

If that wasn’t enough, she also performs all of her own songs and nails a jaw-dropping solo dance routine in the barn.

Coel, best known for I May Destroy You, holds her own as the strong, dominant, resentful Sam, who seems to relish having the upper hand in this situation.

There are so many good elements in Mother Mary – Hathaway and Coel, the performance scenes, the costume design and the visuals – so it’s a shame they’re contained in a narrative that bafflingly devolves into a frustrating ghost story.

In cinemas from Friday 24th April

By Hannah Wales

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