Darren Aronofsky's new film Mother! is causing quite a stir among critics. After its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival this week, the filmmaker met the press with his girlfriend, the movie's star Jennifer Lawrence, who plays a woman who is driven over the edge as she sets up home and starts a family with husband Javier Bardem. 

Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Barden star in 'Mother!'Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Barden star in 'Mother!'

Although the symbolism spirals much, much larger than that. "The themes are just huge," Lawrence says. "They're, well I can't use the word I want to use, but the movie is unique!"

Lawrence says that she has never felt so "in tune" with a character as she was with this one. And while she has never enjoyed rehearsing a role before shooting begins, in this case she felt it helped her get under this woman's skin.

"I hate talking about acting because it's so hard to talk about it without sounding like a douche," Lawrence laughs. "But this was a completely different character from anything I'd done before. It was also a completely different side of myself that I wasn't in touch with, and I didn't really know yet. I had to go to a darker place than I've ever been in my life. I didn't know if I'd be able to come out OK. It was the most I've ever had to pull out of myself!"

Watch the trailer for 'Mother!' here:

Indeed, at one point during filming, she was so deep into her character that she began hyperventilating and dislocated a rib. "I ended up getting on oxygen," she says. "So I have oxygen tubes in my nostrils, and Darren's like, 'It was out of focus, we've got to do it again.' And I was just like, 'Go f**k yourself.'"

Indeed, the Oscar-winning actress has never been one to mince her words, speaking out openly on political issues, the environment and equal pay for women. "My opinion is that you can have millions of dollars and a dream career," Lawrence says, "but if you're not willing to stand up for what you believe, or if you see wrongdoing and don't talk about it, then you have nothing."

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So when asked about how she thinks she'll cope with motherhood when that day arrives, she points to her dog Pippi, whom she says makes her nervous because she lives in the hills of Los Angeles, which are full of predators. "Coyotes, bigger dogs, rattlesnakes, big crows," Lawrence says. "Every 20 minutes I have a heart attack. I'm going to be a great mother!"