A movie star turn of the highest calibre': we were wrong about Mother! and Jennifer Lawrence

"No actor defined the 2010s more than Jennifer Lawrence. Less than halfway into the decade, at the age of 22, Lawrence had won the hearts of audiences as the hero Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games, and a best actress Oscar for her performance in Silver Linings Playbook (famously tripping en route to accept it). She was bold, beautiful, brash and inescapable; her self-deprecating humour paired with megawatt talent made her a Messiah for millennials until she wasn't."

"This period saw the release of Lawrence's most provocative project to date. Part home invasion thriller, part religious parable Mother! follows Lawrence's unnamed protagonist as she tends to the home shared with her aloof husband, a poet played by Javier Bardem (credited as Him). As she supports her husband through writer's block, a series of guests unexpectedly arrive at their remote house. First, a wounded man seeking refuge (Ed Harris), then his serpentine wife (played by a deliciously villainous Michelle Pfeiffer)."

"As the guests become zealot-like in their fervour for the poet, Lawrence's character is driven to madness. What begins as a surrealist take on Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? devolves into a full-blown Boschian nightmare and through it all, we are with Lawrence. She barely ever exits the frame, and Mother! hinges on her complete command of the screen. Lawrence"

Jennifer Lawrence became the defining actor of the 2010s, achieving fame as Katniss Everdeen and winning a best actress Oscar at 22. Her self-deprecating humour and megawatt talent endeared her to millennials. By mid-decade, public opinion shifted as candid remarks and ubiquitous media presence generated backlash and overexposure. During that period she starred in Mother!, a provocative film blending home-invasion thriller and religious parable. Lawrence's unnamed protagonist supports a poet husband while increasingly intrusive guests claim devotion to his work, driving her character toward madness and showcasing her near-constant command of the screen.

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