Mothers’ Instinct (Benoît Delhomme, 2024)
Jessica Chastain and Anne Hathaway go head to head in Mothers’ Instinct, a stylish psychological thriller that almost feels like a horror movie.
The movie is a remake of the Belgian Duelles (2018), based on a novel by Barbara Abel. That movie was written and directed by Olivier Masset-Depasse, who serves as a producer on this feature, but ultimately left directing duties to cinematographer Benoît Delhomme.
The story takes place in the suburbia of early sixties America, where Alice (Chastain) and Celine (Hathaway) live idyllic lives with their respective husbands, even though both women harbor some personal frustrations.
Alice would have liked to continue working as a journalist after she became the mother of Max (Baylen D. Bielitz) whereas for Celine the birth of her son Theo (Eamon Patrick O'Connell) was so problematic that she will never be able to conceive again.
Still, they live the good life, doting on each other and their children, until tragedy strikes hard.
I’m not sure what counts as a spoiler these days, but suffice to say their lives will never the same again. What follows is a tense tug of war between the two women, the beginning of a toxic relationship that can only cause more harm.
Director Delhomme never lets us forget what has happened, which to me - a parent - makes this more of a horror film than anything else, even though Mothers’ Instinct eventually plays out like a more or less conventional thriller, complete with a somewhat absurdist ending.
It’s not exactly a crowdpleaser, but as a gripping tale of insetting paranoia it successfully gets the job done. To add to this, the movie looks lush and beautiful, with shades of Hitchcock and Douglas Sirk, while Hathaway and Chastain - who also serve as producers - are on top of their game.
Note: Mothers’ Instinct has been out in various countries and is currently in theaters in Belgium. It is released in the Netherlands later this week.