Mothers’ Instinct (2024) Review!!

Synopsis – Alice and Celine live a traditional lifestyle with successful husbands and sons of the same age. Life’s perfect harmony is suddenly shattered after a tragic accident. Guilt, suspicion and paranoia combine to unravel their sisterly bond.

My Take – Long gone are the days when glossy thrillers used to dominate the release schedules. Winning over the audience by delving into suburban paranoia by marrying tense psychodrama with grand visuals and crowd pleasing twists.

For his feature debut celebrated cinematographer Benoît Delhomme, who credits include visually lavish period pieces such as The Merchant of Venice (2004), The Theory of Everything (2014) and Lady Chatterley’s Lover (2022), aimed to create a throwback to that era, a love letter to classic Hitchcock, in the form of a slow-burn thriller that explores complex themes of loss, fractured relationships, and the unwavering bond between mothers and their children.

But though it is executed with style, sadly, the supposedly creeping and unsettling story doesn’t quite deliver.

A remake of filmmaker Olivier Masset-Depasse‘s 2018 French-language film, which itself was an adaptation of the 2012 novel by Barbara Abel, the film offers an interesting and seemingly sophisticated plot, but as the narrative progresses, it begins to slow down, and as it reaches the climax, it becomes abruptly sloppy, eventually delivering an underwhelming conclusion that does not match the elegant promises given at the beginning.

The film hinges on the captivating performances of its lead actresses, who deliver powerful portrayals of women driven by maternal instinct, yet there’s nothing special in the premise of these two feuding women embodying the classic clichés of moral blonde beauty versus ambiguous brunette, nor in the mostly slow and unstructured pacing of the predictable narrative.

Set in 1960 suburban America, the story follows two housewives, Alice (Jessica Chastain) and Céline (Anne Hathaway), who are best friends, confidants and next door neighbors with a lot in common, including sons, Theo (Eamon Patrick O’Connell) and Max (Baylen D. Bielitz), who are of the same age and also best friends.

However, tragedy hits hard when Max falls from his balcony and is killed instantly, to which Alice is a witness. Undoubtedly, Céline and her gruff husband Damian (Josh Charles) are destroyed; Céline is hospitalized, while Damien drinks himself into a fuming stupor at every opportunity.

But, life for Alice, her husband Simon (Anders Danielsen Lie) and their allergy-riddled child Theo continues, guiltily, and at a distance. Soon, Céline returns home, seemingly better but cold, that is until she sparks up a friendship with Theo. And after a series of strange incidents, Alice begins to suspect Céline’s motives.

Indeed, director Delhomme is an experienced cinematographer and it shows with the film’s aesthetic being one of its greatest strengths. It’s a small film, set mostly in and around a couple of houses but the period setting is beautifully observed and every shot is painstakingly composed. The stunning costumes are in stark contrast to the grim goings on and provide insight into the characters and their mood. Effectively transporting the audience to the era with a meticulous attention to detail.

Unfortunately all the style is hung on a screenplay that just isn’t up to the task.

Sure, for quite a while, the screenplay written by Sarah Conradt manages to keep the apprehensive and tense atmosphere going as the pair quite cleverly challenge us to choose whom to believe. But though there are moments of tension it never really feels like its escalating.

This makes the sudden shift at the end of the second act, when there’s a wild deviation in tone, even more jarring. What was unspoken, suspected and inferred, becomes hilarious. That wonderful emotion bubbling so intensely up boils to villainous vapor, just evaporates, as the film stumbles in its final act.

All the build-up of suspense and mystery, carefully crafted throughout the film, culminates in an ending that feels both rushed and disappointing. As the resolution lacks the emotional payoff that the preceding narrative promises, leaving viewers with more questions than answers.

Without a doubt, the film’s strength lies in its lead performances as Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain deliver nuanced portrayals of complex characters, capturing the escalating tension with a sense of urgency that keeps viewers engaged.

Hathaway showcases her acting skills: the blank stares as Celine wishes Max was still alive, the realistic scream that she lets out upon realizing her son had fallen off the balcony. And then we have Chastain who has done a great job at portraying the paranoid mother Alice. There’s a masterful back and forth between the two women that is the backbone of this film.

In supporting roles, Josh Charles, Anders Danielsen Lie, Eamon Patrick O’Connell, Baylen D. Bielitz and Caroline Lagerfelt are also good, despite underwritten parts. On the whole, ‘Mothers’ Instinct’ is a well performed pulpy thriller that is ultimately letdown by its script.