Throughout the film Lawrence is seen pouring a yellow powder into her water, which makes the water come alive with a magical CGI glow. It’s the one aspect of Mother! that is never properly explained, though The Daily Beast has suggested it could be a reference to Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s classic short story The Yellow Wallpaper.
The story finds a young woman driven slowly mad due to the submission insisted upon her by her husband, and Lawrence’s mystery elixir, which helps her recover from random bursts of pain, could be a subtle reference to it.
Was that really Kristen Wiig?
Finally – yes, Kristen Wiig is in Mother! It’s a small role, representing a biblical “herald” (someone who makes public proclamation), who Aronofsky comedically depicts as a literary publicist. She also ends up being caught in the film’s final-act madness, too, so if you’ve ever wanted to see Kristen Wiig blow somebody’s head off, Mother! is the movie for you.
