Him (mother!)



Him is the main antagonist of Darren Aronofsky's 2017 psychological horror film Mother! (stylized as mother!). He is portrayed by Javier Bardem.

Him is a well-renown author suffering from writer's block whilst residing in a country home with his wife, Mother. One day, a Man arrives to the house, requesting for a room to stay in that night. Seeing potential in this, Him agrees and welcomes him in, much to Mother's chagrin. Soon, Man begins to suffer from a coughing fit; as Him assists Man by holding him over the toilet, Mother catches a quick glimpse at a fresh wound on Man's rib area which her husband immediately covers up with his hand. The next day, Man's wife Woman arrives to the house. Despite Mother's growing frustration, Him goads her into allowing them to stay because they praised him for his work. However, when Man and Woman accidentally shatter a crystallized object that Him cherished, Woman yells at them to leave.

Later on, the couple's sons come to the house to discuss the possessions that their father had left in his will. The two get into a fight culminating in the Older Son overpowering and killing his Younger Brother. A funeral is held for the Younger Son, which further enrages Mother as more people were making themselves unwelcome guests in her home. After the house gets flooded, Mother angrily rants to Him about how much affection he gives his followers while he doesn't give her any treatment of that sort. The two then physically come together. Mother announces that she was pregnant the next day. With his writer's block subsided, Him becomes inspired and immediately scrambles to write down his discovery.

Nine months later, Mother gives birth to a son in her husband's study. Him informs her that the crowd desired to see the baby, Mother starkly refuses, knowing that they would most likely harm the crowd. Him waits for a few days and seizes his opportunity when Mother falls asleep. When she awakens, she realizes in horror that her baby was gone. The crowd starts to pass the baby around in a rapid succession, but a sickening snap is heard over the commotion. Mother forces herself through the heart of the crowd, and she realizes that not only did the crowd kill her baby, but they had also desecrated his body and are cannibalizing him. In anger, Mother grabs a glass shard and slaughters a great many of them only to then be overcome by the riled up crowd who strip and beat her. While Him saves her, he suggests that they forgive them, because he can't bring himself to kick them out because they worship him. Finally having enough with her husband's ignorance, Mother goes to the cellar and ignites the furnace oil tank, destroying the house and the crowd. The only two people left alive are a (badly charred Mother) and Him.

As Him takes her upstairs, he explains that as a creator, he can never be satisifed. He asks Mother to provide him with the last bit of love she had left for him, he rips out her heart, crushes it, revealing a large, crystallized object. The film ends with the house getting remade, and a new Mother waking up in bed, pondering on where Him is.