- Mother Mary releases wide in cinemas on April 24, directed by David Lowery
- Anne Hathaway calls this the most challenging role of her entire career
- The soundtrack features original songs by Charli XCX, Jack Antonoff and FKA Twigs
- Michaela Coel, Hunter Schafer and Kaia Gerber round out a stacked cast
There is a very specific kind of film that A24 does better than anyone else in the business. Strange, beautiful, slightly unnerving. The kind that stays with you for days and resists easy explanation. Mother Mary, the new psychological drama thriller from director David Lowery, lands squarely in that territory. It stars Anne Hathaway as an iconic pop star navigating a comeback, a fractured friendship, and what the film itself describes as long-buried wounds rising to the surface. It opens wide on April 24, and based on everything we know so far, it is going to be one of the most talked-about films of the year.
The premise is deceptively intimate for something that feels this electric. Pop star Mother Mary reunites with Sam Anselm, her estranged best friend and former costume designer, on the eve of her comeback performance. Sam promises a new wardrobe and maybe something like closure. What unfolds is a psychosexual drama about identity, reinvention, and the complicated wreckage that old friendships can leave behind. Hathaway plays Mary as a Lady Gaga meets Taylor Swift hybrid, a superstar whose public persona has always been more constructed than anyone around her realised. It is not a love story, the film’s own tagline says so plainly. It is something thornier and considerably more interesting than that.
Lowery is one of the most quietly daring directors working today. His credits span the haunting minimalism of A Ghost Story, the mythic weirdness of The Green Knight, and a pair of Disney live-action remakes that were more ambitious than they were given credit for. Mother Mary feels like the project where all of those instincts converge. Described by those who have seen early cuts as a very weird movie, that framing is not a warning. For anyone who knows Lowery’s work, it is an invitation. The film was shot over 14 months in and around Cologne, Germany, and Hathaway has been candid about how disorienting the experience was. She began filming before any of the songs were complete, meaning she had to embody a pop star whose sound she hadn’t yet heard. She told Vogue the experience demanded real humility, showing up every day knowing you’re going to struggle and accepting that as part of the process. That kind of commitment tends to show up on screen.
The cast alone makes this worth your time. Michaela Coel, who earned every accolade going for I May Destroy You, plays Sam with the kind of quiet intensity that Coel has made her signature. Hunter Schafer, Kaia Gerber, FKA Twigs, Alba Baptista and Sian Clifford fill out a supporting cast that reads less like a list and more like a curatorial statement. And then there is the music. The soundtrack, titled Mother Mary: Greatest Hits, features seven original songs all performed by Hathaway, with contributions from Jack Antonoff, Charli XCX and FKA Twigs. That combination, Antonoff’s orchestral instincts, Charli XCX’s sonic edge, and Twigs’ otherworldliness, suggests a score that will be as arresting as the film itself. The lead single Burial is already out and sets an appropriately haunting tone.
For Dubai audiences, this is the kind of film that rewards going in with as little expectation as possible. A24 releases do not follow conventional storytelling rules, and Mother Mary appears to lean fully into that. It is cerebral, atmospheric, and built around two extraordinary performances at its centre. If the trailer’s imagery of glamour, grief and creeping unease is anything to go by, this is a cinema experience rather than a casual watch. The kind you’ll want to talk about afterwards over coffee for a very long time.
Mother Mary opens wide in cinemas from April 24, 2026. The soundtrack drops the same day. Go in blind if you can!
Director: David Lowery
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Michaela Coel, Hunter Schafer, FKA Twigs, Kaia Gerber, Alba Baptista, Sian Clifford
Release Date: April 24, 2026
