Wait, there was a movie that pitted Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain against each other on screen and went unnoticed? Sometimes, there’s a reason why movies like The maternal instinct (now available to rent or buy through VOD services like Prime Video) are buried. This is rarely a good sign.
THE MOTHER’S INSTINCTSTREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The essence: Alice (Jessica Chastain) and Celine (Anne Hathaway) have a lot in common as neighbors in a quaint mid-century American suburb. They have young children of the same age who are constant playmates, making their lives inextricably intertwined. What they share in joy (as well as the nagging disappointment that this may be the limit of their ambitions) they soon share in pain when Alice fails to convince Celine’s son, Max, to get off the roof before he plummets to his death.
This loss opens a chasm between the two friends, but something more than grief arrives to fill it. A series of suspicious events catch Alice’s attention and make her wonder if Celine is seeking revenge. Alice begins to see death and deception around every corner, raising the tension in an already tense situation. But who will ultimately face the harshest consequences in a world that does not forgive women: the one who speaks out or the one who steps out of line?
What movies will it remind you of? It’s like looking Far from heavenTodd Haynes’ homage and replica of the 1950s melodrama, but with a genre twist.
Performance worth watching: The maternal instinct has plenty of flaws, but its two lead performances are not among them. Of the two female leads, it is Anne Hathaway who shines a little more because she is able to show a greater emotional range and at least seems a bit I understand what the movie is trying to convey. Jessica Chastain, on the other hand, plays it in a slightly more polite and studied way.
Memorable dialogue: “Is this life enough for you?” Alice asks Céline in a moment of heartfelt reflection before a rift opens between them. The line hints at the dissatisfaction lurking beneath the surface that could motivate these two women to act in unusual ways.
Sex and skin: Two purely procreative sex scenes are filmed with such cloistered passion: Simon’s (Anders Danielsen Lie) shoulders and Alice’s leg.
Our opinion: The maternal instinct It has the makings of an interesting film but little of the substance. It’s as if cinematographer Benoît Delhomme, making his directorial debut, only shot half the script. The film consists of nothing more than the obvious, maudlin sections that convey the movement of the plot and none of the nuanced scenes that would need to follow and redeem them. (This is not an exaggeration: Hathaway makes perfume commercials with a stronger sense of identity than this film does.) Try as they might to overcome the script’s weakness, even actresses as talented as Hathaway and Chastain can’t reconcile the vast discrepancies in their characters. Scenes swing wildly between empowered women and helpless victims. It’s hard to be #GIRLBOSS while cosplaying as a tradwife!
Our calling: SKIP IT. The mothers of The maternal instinct They are not mothers. If you are not constantly tuned in, here is the translation: the film is almost a disaster because it never sells on the turn from melodrama to psychological thriller, and everything falls apart from the failed delivery. And if that were not enough, it compromises the Salt burn The sin of explaining things that don’t need any explanation (ambiguity is a friend of storytelling!) If your gut tells you not to watch this movie, listen to it.
Marshall Shaffer is a freelance film journalist based in New York City. In addition to Jugo Mobile, his work has also appeared in Slashfilm, Slant, The Playlist, and many other outlets. Someday soon, everyone will realize how right he is when it comes to talking about Spring breakers.
Look The maternal instinct on VOD
