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Mother Mary (2026 film)

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Mother Mary
Theatrical release poster
Directed byDavid Lowery
Written byDavid Lowery
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography
Edited byDavid Lowery
Music byDaniel Hart
Production
companies
  • Homebird Productions
  • augenschein Filmproduktion
Distributed by
Release dates
  • April 17, 2026 (2026-04-17) (United States)
  • May 21, 2026 (2026-05-21) (Germany)
Running time
112 minutes[1]
Countries
  • United States
  • Germany
LanguageEnglish
Budget$20 million[2]
Box office$3 million[3][4]

Mother Mary is a 2026 psychological drama film written and directed by David Lowery. The film stars Anne Hathaway, Michaela Coel, Hunter Schafer, Atheena Frizzell, Kaia Gerber, Jessica Brown Findlay, Alba Baptista, Sian Clifford, and FKA Twigs. It follows a pop star (Hathaway) whose reunion with her former costume designer (Coel) forces her to confront her past.

The film received a limited theatrical release in the United States by A24 on April 17, 2026, before opening wide on April 24. It received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $3 million against its $20 million budget.

Plot

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Mother Mary, a world-famous musical artist, prepares to mount a comeback performance in the wake of an onstage accident. Overwhelmed during a costume fitting, she flees to the English countryside to seek out fashion designer Sam Anselm, her estranged lover and collaborator. With three days until Mary's show, Sam grudgingly agrees to design her a dress.

Tensions rise as they make preparations at Sam's barn-turned-workshop, and Mary struggles to explain her vision for the dress. Sam questions her about the upcoming performance and her accident, which some suspect was a suicide attempt. She refuses to listen to Mary's new song, forcing her to perform the choreography without music. Suggesting a long train made from her previous iconic dresses to be torn away onstage, Sam recognizes that Mary is desperate for personal and artistic clarity.

Old resentments are laid bare as a vengeful Sam forces Mary to confront the end of their close creative partnership: despite them launching Mary's career together, Sam was denied credit and cut out of her inner circle. Sam explains that she has not listened to Mary's music since being visited by a ghost. At a concert after their estrangement, her bitterness toward Mary resulted in a broken tooth, and she awoke after having it removed to discover the wound had released a spectral figure of red cloth.

Mary reveals that she saw the same ghost after a séance with her team where Imogen, a fan possessed by a mysterious spirit, cut open Mary's hand. That night, the red ghost appeared to Mary and attempted to enter her wound, but she escaped. Exhausted by her demanding tour, she was confronted by the ghost during a concert and severely injured, falling as the spirit inhabited her. Though recovered from the accident, she remains haunted by the ghost now inside her.

Sam leads a reluctant Mary in a ritual to exorcise the spirit, using her dressmaking tools and invoking their past collaborations. Taking Sam's shears, Mary slices open her own chest and Sam pulls out the ghost, turning the spirit of their mutual trauma into harmless fabric. Mary apologizes for having wronged Sam and her team rushes her to the show, while Sam is inspired to craft the red fabric into a dress. Her assistant Hilda describes Mary taking the stage, shedding her original costume and dedicating her song to Sam, who envisions Mother Mary in the finished dress.

Cast

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Production

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The project was announced in March 2023. David Lowery was to write and direct the film, and Michaela Coel and Anne Hathaway were announced to star.[5] In May and October 2023, respectively, Hunter Schafer and Sian Clifford joined the cast.[6] In March 2024, FKA Twigs was revealed to have a role in the film.[7] It was co-financed with A24, Topic Studios and IPR.VC.[5][8]

The film was in pre-production in Germany as of May 2023.[9] In July, the production was granted a waiver to film during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.[10] On July 20, 2024, Hathaway announced that filming had wrapped.[11]

Influences

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The character of Mother Mary was inspired by the singer Taylor Swift, for the direction, and Beyoncé, for Hathaway's acting performance.

Lowery said the film was partly inspired by Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992).[12] He also drew inspiration from Taylor Swift's Reputation Stadium Tour: "Her Reputation concert film is one of the best concert films ever. It's truly phenomenal. And for our concert sequences we looked at that repeatedly." Hathaway's character, Mother Mary, is Lowery's vision for what a Taylor Swift–like figure would be in the future. He added, "I definitely brought a lot of Taylor Swift to the table in terms of who Mother Mary was. I would often be like, 'Imagine Taylor Swift in ten or 15 years — that's sort of who this character could be.'"[13]

At a press conference held in April 2026, Hathaway revealed that she had drawn inspiration from Beyoncé for her character, citing the track "American Requiem" from the singer's eighth studio album Cowboy Carter as the key to understanding how to perform her character, stating that "[Beyoncé's] technique in that song is so mesmerizing and astonishing: and listening to her phraseology, her musicianship, understanding the history of her voice that had led her to be able to make that sound that is so still, so present".[14][15] Hathaway also revealed that she drew inspiration from Beyoncé's concert film and live album Homecoming.[16]

Music

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Music was composed by Daniel Hart, with original songs provided by musicians Jack Antonoff and Charli XCX.[5] FKA Twigs was also announced to provide an original song.[7]

The soundtrack album Mother Mary: Greatest Hits was announced on March 5, 2026.[17] It was released on April 17, 2026, via A24 Music. It includes seven original songs, all performed by Hathaway. Alongside the announcement, the lead single "Burial" was released.[18]

Release

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Mother Mary was released in the United States by A24 in limited theaters on April 17, 2026, before expanding nationwide on April 24.[19][20]

Reception

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On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 69% of 206 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.5/10. The website's consensus reads: "Anne Hathaway acquits herself well as a believable pop star in Mother Mary, a modish psychodrama that can be frustratingly obtuse but has style to spare."[21] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 58 out of 100, based on 37 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[22]

David Ehrlich of IndieWire gave the film an A− and wrote, "It's all rather vague and uncertain, like the contours of a rotting old friendship; the movie's surfaces are as simple as the lyrics of a pop song, and its depths as rich and boundless as the feelings that same pop song might summon."[23] Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com gave the film 3 out of 4 stars and described it as "another story about the intersection of fame and art, but it's not like one you've seen before, a two-hander that owes as much to The Exorcist as it does to Lady Gaga."[24] Kevin Maher of The Times rated the film 4 out of 5 stars, praising how "there is so much to love, even adore" about the film, starting with Hathaway.[25]

Robbie Collin of The Telegraph rated the film 2 out of 5 stars, billing it as a "beautiful yet ungraspable psychological drama".[26] Richard Brody of The New Yorker observed that "the result feels like a Hollywood production done on the cheap, with strenuous efforts to mask its small scale".[27] Stephanie Zacharek of Time decried how "arty and self-conscious, [the film] is just a slog".[28] Owen Gleiberman of Variety lamented that Mother Mary "turns into the most befuddlingly pretentious movie about a pop star since Brady Corbet's Vox Lux".[29]

References

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  1. ↑ "Mother Mary (15)". British Board of Film Classification. March 6, 2026. Retrieved March 6, 2026.
  2. ↑ Myers, Owen (April 14, 2026). "Mother Mary review – Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel are lost in ludicrous pop star drama". The Guardian. Retrieved April 24, 2026.
  3. ↑ "Mother Mary (2026)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved June 11, 2026.Edit this at Wikidata
  4. ↑ "Mother Mary (2026) – Box Office and Financial Information". The Numbers. Retrieved June 11, 2026.
  5. 1 2 3 Kroll, Justin (March 21, 2023). "Michaela Coel And Anne Hathaway To Star In Pop Music Epic Mother Mary For David Lowery And A24". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on March 21, 2023. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
  6. ↑ Grobar, Matt (May 25, 2023). "Euphorias Hunter Schafer Joins A24 Pop Music Pic Mother Mary From Filmmaker David Lowery". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on July 19, 2023. Retrieved May 25, 2023.
  7. 1 2 Nnadi, Chioma (March 14, 2024). ""I'm Bigger, Stronger, More Tenacious": FKA Twigs Is Leaving Pain Behind – And Embracing A New Creative Peak". Vogue. Archived from the original on March 14, 2024. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
  8. ↑ Dalton, Ben (November 6, 2024). "How European fund IPR.VC is harnessing investment knowledge for the film sector". Screen International. Archived from the original on November 6, 2024. Retrieved November 6, 2024.
  9. ↑ Kohn, Eric (April 8, 2023). "Super Mario Bros. Is Not Enough: David Lowery's Case for Better Family-Friendly Movies (Column)". IndieWire. Archived from the original on May 19, 2023. Retrieved May 19, 2023.
  10. ↑ Welk, Brian (July 18, 2023). "Anne Hathaway and Matthew McConaughey Films Land SAG-AFTRA Waivers". IndieWire. Archived from the original on July 18, 2023. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
  11. ↑ Hathaway, Anne [@annehathaway]; (July 20, 2024). "Just wrapped David Lowery's #MotherMary, one of the most extraordinary, transformative experiences I have ever had… To our brilliant cast and crew-especially the incandescent @michaelacoelweb - thank you for making it so epic and unforgettable". Retrieved July 20, 2024 – via Instagram.
  12. ↑ Hazel, Andy (August 26, 2024). "David Lowery Teases His 'Weird, Weird Movie' 'Mother Mary' and Acting for Luca Guadagnino in His 'Queer'". IndieWire. Retrieved April 17, 2026.
  13. ↑ Gularte, Alejandra (April 7, 2026). "Mother Mary Is Inspired by Taylor Swift in 15 Years". Vulture. Retrieved April 17, 2026.
  14. ↑ Aswad, Jem (April 15, 2026). "Anne Hathaway on How Beyoncé Helped Her Find 'Swag' as a Singer for 'Mother Mary' Film". Variety. Retrieved April 20, 2026.
  15. ↑ Parkel, Inga (April 16, 2026). "Anne Hathaway says certain Beyonce song helped prepare her for singing in Mother Mary". The Independent. Retrieved April 20, 2026.
  16. ↑ "Anne Hathaway on Being Inspired by Beyoncé's 'Homecoming' for 'Mother Mary' (Exclusive)". Extra. April 14, 2026. Retrieved April 20, 2026.
  17. ↑ Sharpe, Josh (March 5, 2026). "Listen: Anne Hathaway Performs New Pop Song 'Burial' From MOTHER MARY". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved April 20, 2026.
  18. ↑ Mickles, Kiana (March 5, 2026). "Anne Hathaway's New Song "Burial" Does Not Feature Burial". Pitchfork. Retrieved March 6, 2026.
  19. ↑ Ukiomogbe, Juliana (January 27, 2026). "Mother Mary: What We Know So Far". Elle. Retrieved February 2, 2026.
  20. ↑ "Mother Mary". A24 Press. Archived from the original on April 17, 2026. Retrieved February 26, 2026.
  21. ↑ "Mother Mary". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved October 10, 2026.
  22. ↑ "Mother Mary". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved April 17, 2026.
  23. ↑ Ehrlich, David (April 14, 2026). "'Mother Mary' Review: Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel Make Beautiful Music Together in David Lowery's Divinely Strange Pop Psychodrama". IndieWire. Retrieved April 17, 2026.
  24. ↑ Tallerico, Brian (April 14, 2026). "Mother Mary review: Anne Hathaway stars in dreamlike pop fantasy". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved April 21, 2026.
  25. ↑ Maher, Kevin (April 22, 2026). "Mother Mary review — Anne Hathaway gives the performance of her career". The Times. Retrieved June 21, 2026.
  26. ↑ Collin, Robbie (April 23, 2026). "Anne Hathaway channels Taylor Swift in a triumph of style over substance". The Telegraph. Retrieved June 21, 2026.
  27. ↑ Brody, Richard (April 16, 2026). ""Mother Mary" and the Problem of Small Movies with Big Stars". The New Yorker. Retrieved June 21, 2026.
  28. ↑ Zacharek, Stephanie (April 14, 2026). "Mother Mary Is Arty, Self-Conscious, and a Total Slog". Time. Retrieved June 21, 2026.
  29. ↑ Gleiberman, Owen (April 14, 2026). "'Mother Mary' Review: Anne Hathaway Plays a Gaga Pop Star, and Michaela Coel Is Her Designer, in David Lowery's Thuddingly Pretentious Fantasia". Variety. Retrieved June 21, 2026.
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