Mother!, the new film from Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky, premièred a week ago at the Venice Film Festival. It was met with a smattering of boos, followed by mostly rapturous reviews. Aronofsky’s earlier films – Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler, Noah – were developed over years, he said, whereas the script for this one poured out of him in five days, fired by an overwhelming anger about the state of the world. The result is surely the most outré studio release in years, a florid psychodrama whose very existence is a testament to the clout of its leading lady, Jennifer Lawrence.

In a reflexive twist, Lawrence, with whom Aronofsky is now in a relationship, plays the partner of a Great Artist (Javier Bardem), a poet attempting to beat writer’s block in a remote farmhouse that is being renovated by his adoring wife. Their idyll is interrupted by a knock on the door from Ed Harris, a stranger who turns out to be a fan. Javier (none of the characters is given a name) blithely invites him to stay, to the surprise of Lawrence, who wishes she were at least consulted. Before you can say ‘huh’, Harris’s wife (Michelle Pfeiffer) has moved in as well. She proceeds to ask Lawrence overfamiliar questions about her state of childlessness and her relationship generally.