From Ryan Bordow over at Sitting in the Cinema:

Disclaimer: this is a personal interpretation of mother!, Darren Aronofsky’s latest film—a piece of cinema very much open to interpretation. While takeaways from the film differ based on subjective experience, I have drawn from the two deepest wells of my knowledge to dissect it: cinema analysis and Judeo-Christian tradition. So take my words with a number of grains of salt, perhaps. Then, read other interpretations. What is allegory without discussion and disagreement?

Also, so many spoilers. Absolutely do not read this without first seeing the movie. Also also, this is long. Feel free to read it in pieces. I hope you’re compelled to see it through, lest the mysteries of mother! plague your nightmares for eternity.

Let’s get this out of the way: the narrative of mother! is a Biblical allegory; an extended metaphor that uses the story of the Bible to build its world and relay its messages. Many events and characters are metaphors that link directly to events and characters in the Bible. Of course, Aronofsky—a nonreligious artist with a lot to say about religion—does not simply rehash the Bible in the interest of a modern update. Much of the film takes place after the Biblical story, in a world that’s been inexorably altered by it—which is the point (or a point).

First, I will tackle the parts of the film that are reflections of stories in the Bible and beyond: otherwise known as the “this means this” and “this represents this” section. That’s the easier part. Subsequently, I will dig into what it all means.

Read more here.