This review contains spoilers. Mothers’ Instinct is a psychological thriller starring Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain. Set in the American suburbs of the 1960’s, Hathaway plays Celine and Chastian plays Alice. The director is Benoît Delhomme who is clearly heavily inspired by Alfred Hitchcock. Alice is styled like Hitchcock’s favourite leading lady, Tippi Hedren with her blonde hair in a french twist and her strappy sundresses. Obviously Hathaway and Chastain are both ridiculously beautiful and they are permanently dressed in ultra-feminine dresses, usually revealing unblemished shoulders and décolletage. Celine even wears six inch stilettoes to do the vacuuming.

Alice and Celine are next door neighbours and good friends, they are both stay at home “moms”, married to successful and handsome men. Alice is married to Simon, played by Anders Danielsen Lie, some sort of accounts executive, and Celine’s husband is Damian, played by Josh Charles. I found Josh Charles a little distracting because he reminds me so much of ex British Prime Minister, David Cameron. Damian is a doctor and Celine is happy to stay at home full time and look after her only child, eight year old Max. Alice and Simon also have an eight year old son, Theo, who is brilliantly played by Eamon Patrick O’Connell. Alice has aspirations to return to her career in journalism but Simon is unsupportive of this and makes some patronising suggestions that maybe she could help out at the boy’s school newspaper. We learn that Celine is unable to have any more children and that Alice has only had one child by choice, Simon would like to have more.

Mothers’ Instinct did have me hiding behind my hands at some points but then I am a lightweight when it comes to scary films. The clues are a bit heavy handed in places. My son and husband are both anaphylactic and it amazes me how potentially fatal food allergies have become such tropes in films and books. Theo is allergic to peanuts and Alice understandably lives in fear of him accidentally ingesting something containing nuts.

Everything is picture perfect in suburbia, Celine drives her gleaming car with Max and Theo, in the back seat, the three of them singing Did You Ever See a Lassie loudy in preparation for a school concert. Celine spends more time looking over her shoulder than at the road and I was sure this is when disaster would strike but no, they made it home to their huge homes without incident.

The couples do a fair bit of socialising in each others homes, decanters and canapes are always at hand and it did seem like wife-swapping may be on the cards but then a dreadful accident befalls Max and everything changes. Does Celine blame Alice for not saving Max or is that just in Alice’s imagination? I was irritated by the fact that there are four main characters and two of them have been afflicted by serious mental illness and they are both of the women. Celine’s unravelling is unnerving to say the least but how ill can she really be to be so conniving? Her gaslighting skills are monumental. Damian and Celine seem unable to help each other through their grief and Damian is also falling apart but in a less spectacular fashion. Celine attends Theo’s birthday party in her mourning garb and stands watching everyone else’s child play happily having only laid hers to rest weeks or even days before. Of course this makes everybody uncomfortable and Simon’s mother tries to tactfully suggest that it isn’t the best place for her, which did not go well. So, is Simon right and Alice having a paranoiac episode or is Celine plotting some sort of terrible revenge? Alice takes matters into her own hands to find out and to protect her family.

I enjoyed Mothers’ Instinct although it was a bit clunky in places. I did not see the ending coming and found it satisfactorily shocking. I loved the glamour of the film which was a remake of a Belgium film, Duelle. Chastain and Hathaway were both wonderful in their roles and complimented each other perfectly and it is refreshing to see two women take to lead.

Thank you for reading,

Samantha

Cover Photo by Myke Simon on Unsplash