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USA | Germany | UK | Finland 2026  
Opening May 21, 2026

Directed by: David Lowery
Writing credits: David Lowery
Principal actors: Anne Hathaway, Michaela Coel, Hunter Schafer, Atheena Frizzell, Jessica Brown Findlay

“Everybody has a secret; everybody has an obsession.” Mother Mary is the persona created by two bright, young ambitious women oozing potential and really good friends. Like twins, like soulmates. The hair, halo and gowns, long trains and historical persuasions are identified as Sam’s (Michaela Coel); the songs, music and impressive dance movements/gyrations, while singing, are Mother Mary’s (Anne Hathaway—endured intense vocal/dance training). Their inspiration, their percipience, their fabrications, their hard work. Unified. Inseparable. Then success. That was a long, long time ago. Sam is the realist, likes word salads and thinks deeply, long, and hard, whereas Mary is the voice with sad-song magnetism that draws people to her like fireflies to light bulbs. Mother Mary’s allegiance is to her audiences; she is on her way back and needs a one-of-a-kind killer dress.

The pushy stranger bolts upstairs into Sam’s room with Hilda (Hunter Schafer) trailing, unable to stop her. Entering the room breathless, she senses their conversation is starting in the middle of wherever they left off. A dress? Then it clicks—Mother Mary! Schedules are tight. Perspectives alter with Sam outspoken, Mary somewhat illusive. The deadline tightens. Will Sam do it? Can Mother Mary afford for her not to? Talk, Sam commands, pulling out bolts of cloth and sketching; shared experiences overflow, along with a deluge of heaving emotions. Their inner beings tug them together, pride pulls them apart, yet it is an innate spirit that confounds and conquers leading the charge to change.

Writer-director David Lowery’s dissonant Mother Mary is an intense, acerbic psychological probe and analysis of relationships tempered by a lack of reasoning, reckoning and/or reality, as well as honesty and courage. Hathaway and Coel give stunning performances, with strong support from FKA twigs, Sian Clifford, Alba Baptista, Isaura Barbé-Brown, Kaia Gerber, et al. Production values are spot on: Andrew Droz Palermo and Rina Yang’s camera work, David Lowery’s editing, Francesca Di Mottola’s production design, and Daniel Hart’s original score with original music from Charli XCX and Jack Antonoff. Filmed over fourteen months, Lowery admits when shooting the Mother Mary concerts (primarily in Germany) to being inspired by Taylor Swift’s concert performances. To be honest, it is the courage of being honest that is making a comeback. 112 minutes (Marinell H.)