Despite the many angles and interpretations to the film, Aronofsky himself commented that it's an allegory for Mother Earth. “It was the strangest thing," Aronofsky told The Hollywood Reporter. "It came out of living on this planet and sort of seeing what’s happening around us and not being able to do anything. I just had a lot of rage and anger and I just wanted to channel it into one emotion, one feeling.” It's very easy to see the film through this lens, especially when it's explicitly stated by the filmmaker; however, there's something intensely personal that undulates under the surface in Mother!, which seems to transcend the Mother Earth allegory.

The film opens with a woman who looks eerily like Rachel Weisz burning on fire, followed by Bardem's ashen fingers as he places a beautiful quartz-like crystal into its frame, which transforms the burnt shell of a house to its true form before starting the story proper. Aronofsky dated Weisz for nine years before moving on to Lawrence, who stars in the film and undergoes her own form of torture stemming from the artist in the story and behind the camera. It's hard not to wonder in the back of your mind if there's anything deeper to that when the film takes on an artist vs. muse theme, particularly once it winds to a close.