Mothers’ Instinct Review
Mothers’ Instinct (2024) Film Review, a movie directed by Benoit Delhomme, written by Sarah Conradt and Barbara Abel and starring Jessica Chastain, Anne Hathaway, Anders Danielsen Lie, Josh Charles, Eamon Patrick O’Connell, Caroline Lagerfelt, Baylen D. Bielitz, Steve Routman, Keeley Miller, Joel Nagle, T.L. Flint, Alexander Blaise, Scott Robertson and Larry Petersen.
Mothers’ Instinct is a well-directed suspense drama that stars Oscar-winners Jessica Chastain and Anne Hathaway in commanding performances. Filmmaker Benoit Delhomme has crafted a tightly edited thriller that is about two housewives who end up feuding with one another after a tragic loss. This movie is heightened by scenes of grieving and tension and winds up drawing the viewer into the complexity of the misery suffered by the main characters. The fact that the film works as both a thriller and a character study is largely thanks to the stellar acting by Chastain and, even more so, Hathaway.
Set at the beginning of the 1960’s, the movie introduces the time period it is set in through televised American politics. Two housewives close in age are friends. They are both married and they each have a child, both of them boys. Alice (Chastain) wants to go back to work and Celine (Hathaway) believes it could be a real possibility for her. Alice’s husband is Simon (Anders Danielsen Lie) and Celine’s husband is Damian (Josh Charles). When Celine keeps her son, Max (Baylen D. Bielitz), home from school, the child tries to hang a birdhouse from a balcony, and both mothers are unable to prevent Max from falling to his death. Alice tries to explain the death of Max to her son, Theo (Eamon Patrick O’Connell) but Theo doesn’t understand as evidenced by his trying to get his toy back from Max’s hands while Max lays in his coffin.
Alice’s mother-in-law, Granny Jean (Caroline Lagerfelt), doesn’t think it’s right that Celine still visits Theo. When Celine comes to a party, Granny Jean tells her that she shouldn’t be there and that it’s Theo’s moment and Celine should space herself from the child. You see, Celine has grown attached to Theo and sees the loss of her son, Max, as something that can be rectified In some way if she can just be there for Theo. Alice thinks Celine is playing games, especially when Theo ends up on the same balcony from which Max fell.
This is essentially a psycho from hell movie with depth. Celine could be that type of psychopath as what she does in the movie defies human decency in more ways than one. But, Hathaway plays her as a villain with a heart which makes the movie a deep psychological thriller instead of a horror film which it could have become in lesser hands. Celine’s heart, though, doesn’t extend far beyond her love for Theo because Alice seems to suspect Celine is up to no good. She is up to no good. Granny Jean suffers a suspicious heart attack and Celine may be to blame because Granny Jean wasn’t taking her medicine as prescribed. She was taking some sort of drugs but not the correct ones. What, exactly, is going on and will Alice be able to escape the wrath of the loving but deranged Celine?
Movies such as Mothers’ Instinct were popular in the 1990’s. Unlawful Entry, Fatal Attraction, Hush, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle and Single White Female were just some of the cautionary pictures that the new movie seems to emulate. Of course, the time period defines the themes in the latest film, making it more a reflection of the time it was set in rather than just a simple crazed mother movie. Celine was restricted by her devastating situation and her clinging to Theo stems from her need to love a child but she takes it too far, causing dismay to Alice and Simon.
As the husbands, Anders Danielsen Lie and Josh Charles are perfectly cast. They tend to try to be there for their respective wives but the tragedy at the center of the story line gets the best of them both. The kid actors are fine with O’Connell’s Theo fully-realized on-screen as a child who doesn’t know any better and therefore, thinks Celine is sincere in her actions and in her love for him. Perhaps, she is but she is also a bit of a maniac as evidenced by the events that occur in the latter part of the film.
Hathaway is amazingly focused in terms of the depth she brings to her role. While we relate to Alice more, and Chastain is certainly incredible in certain dramatic scenes, Hathaway steals a large chunk of the movie with her multi-faceted characterization. It’s one of Hathaway’s best recent performances. Chastain is expected to be excellent and doesn’t necessarily rise above expectations here.
Mothers’ Instinct is a powerfully rendered story of a deranged mother’s love for her child and the child of her neighbor who becomes like her own son after the mom’s sudden personal loss. It’s a flawed film in that we have seen these types of movies before but, in the end, it’s salvaged by Hathaway’s remarkable, layered performance. The flaws are that some of the scenes seem to move too quickly and the ending, itself, feels a bit too downbeat for a thriller with actresses of this caliber.
In the end, Mothers’ Instinct will satisfy fans of thrillers and dramas almost equally. Anne Hathaway has never played a more complicated character than Celine before and it’s a testament to Hathaway’s talent that we feel any sympathy towards Celine at all. The fact that one can almost root for her at times makes us see the power of Hathaway’s forceful performance. We shouldn’t be rooting for Celine at all and if this was a standard thriller, I wouldn’t recommend it. But, it’s different and a capably directed film overall.
Rating: 7/10
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