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The following contains light spoilers for Mother MaryMother Mary has one of the best music movie scenes since Sinners. David Lowrey’s deconstruction of a pop star is a visually ambitious film, with a keen focus on character that doesn’t get lost in the potential pageantry of the concept. The movie focuses on the dynamic between former collaborators Mary and Sam, who have long since parted ways.
With the pop star struggling to find the right look for her upcoming show, she ventures to her old costume designer’s home to try and get a new outfit. The resulting conversation and confession reveal the depth of their emotional pains and lingering regrets that feel like a fusion of a tight stage-play and a bold film all at once.
The best scenes are the ones that properly blend the big musical turns with the tighter character focus, using the music as a window into the characters. The stand-out comes about halfway through the film as Mary is reflecting on her own experiences, with a bit of canny choreography and clever camerawork delivering a mesmerizing sequence.
The scene is inventive in its technicality and emotionally raw in its content, the perfect fusion of movie magic and musical ambition. It stands out in the memory long after it was done. Similar to one of the best parts of Sinners, Mother Mary‘s biggest musical moment is also one of the movie’s most technically impressive scenes.
Mother Mary’s Best Musical Moment Isn’t A Typical Song
While Mother Mary has plenty of compelling songs and strong musical moments, the most inventive sequence in the film combines clever camerawork, an emotional central performance, and the pulsing song to deliver one of the best movie music moments in years. The sequence comes as Mary tells Sam her own experience with the red spirit.
Mary recounts how exhausted she has felt in her recent life. Despite all the fame and adoration she’s gotten, Mary has found herself somewhat isolated from others and exhausted with her non-stop fame and work. This is personified with a oner that follows Mary as she goes from stage show to stage show, without a moment’s rest.
The scene is gorgeously shot, full of cinematic trickery that allows for multiple people to descend from doors they hadn’t been on the other side of, signifying Mary being surrounded at all times, even as she feels alone. Her costume changes and growing exhaustion highlight the ever-increasing pace of her work, even as she has no time for herself.
The music plays in the background, growing starker as the scene continues. It all builds to a moment of raw exhaustion from Anne Hathaway, who silently conveys all her exhaustion in a wordless moment of raw emotion. It’s a wonderfully constructed scene, conveying everything about Mary’s rising career and splintering spirit without ever needing another word.
It’s one of the most impressive shots that director David Lowery has ever featured in one of his films, which, given the scale and scope of The Green Knight, is saying something. It’s far from the only creative piece of camera framing and movement in the film, but it’s easily one of the most memorable beats in the movie.
Great Movie Music Scenes Are Impossible To Forget
There’s an underlying synergy that comes into play when a film properly fuses music with visuals. Even beyond movie musicals, where that connection is very literal, some films use a musical sequence divorced from dialogue to convey emotion, highlight character, and wow the audience with a visual flourish.
The one that comes to mind in modern film is Sinners, with the Academy Award-nominated song “I Lied To You” proving to be a great track on top of the mesmerizing visuals of Sammy’s song reaching out through time. Like Mother Mary‘s musical moment, both are clever uses of film as a medium that never loses sight of the music.
They’re also very different in terms of tone and purpose, highlighting how different filmmakers can use similar underlying approaches to tell very different stories. I’m not sure if the Mother Mary scene can quite overcome or even match Sinners, which becomes transcendent by the time Sammy’s song literally brings the roof down.
However, that’s not to disparage Mother Mary‘s backstage sequence by any stretch of the imagination. On the contrary, it’s a sincere compliment to suggest that one of the best movie music scenes of all time is the only thing that can really land more effectively than Mary’s exhaustion behind the scenes.
Both scenes are great because they have terrific music, but also because they’re in the service of the larger film. They reveal layers of depth about the characters, push the narrative forward, and are just cool visuals. It’s one of the things Sinners does best, and Mother Mary delivers on the same impulse with phenomenal results.
