Courtesy of A24
Audio By Carbonatix
The camera pushes in, and a voice, weathered by distance, whispers, “I haven’t seen her in over 10 years, but I could tell she was coming from a thousand miles away.” This is how Dallas’ own David Lowery reintroduces us to his world — a place where time bends, and memory is a tangible, often haunting, presence. His latest A24 creation, the psychosexual pop thriller Mother Mary, promises a cinematic sermon unlike any other.
Starring Anne Hathaway as a pop icon named Mother Mary, and Michaela Coel as her estranged costume designer, Sam, the film appears to be a dark fable about the cost of fame and the tangled roots of creation.
“So you’ve come calling back to me,” Sam says, a hint of old wounds in her voice. When asked what she wants, Mary’s answer is simple and total: “Me.” What follows is not just the making of a dress, but the unravelling of a relationship, a history and perhaps a soul. “You’re making me a hate dress?” Mary asks, a line that perfectly captures the twisted intimacy on display.
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Lowery, known for the earthy, folkloric visuals of The Green Knight and the spectral melancholy of A Ghost Story, once again joins forces with cinematographer Andrew Droz Palermo, this time adding Rina Yang to the mix. The result is a familiar palette of deep greens and blues, but it’s now pierced by violent splashes of red. A flowing crimson fabric beckons to Hathaway’s character in a bathtub, reminiscent of a Giallo dream sequence. These punches of color signal a descent from the calculated glamour of the stage to something far more primal, echoing the dark femininity of films like The Craft and Crimson Peak.
The trailer’s text confirms this is no simple narrative: “This is not a ghost story. This is not a love story. This is a prayer, a song, a dress, a communion, a betrayal, a sacrifice, a rebirth.” The soundtrack, featuring original music from Jack Antonoff, Charli XCX and FKA Twigs, pulses with the energy of a stadium tour while hinting at something sinister beneath the surface. The visuals warp from grand stage productions to intimate, unsettling rituals. We see a witches’ circle, flickering candles and a hand with a bloody gash, as a voice urges, “You think there’s something inside of you? Let’s cast her out together.”
This is Lowery getting wicked, crafting a mad creation that feels like a collision of Phantom Thread’s obsessive artistry and Black Swan’s psychological horror. It’s a poetic dive into the terror and transcendence of performance, exploring what happens when art demands not just a piece of you, but everything.
Set to arrive in theaters in April 2026, Mother Mary once again proves that the Dallas filmmaker’s stories are prayers whispered in the dark, and we are all invited to listen.
