Maternal instinct: dangerous neighbors, with a Hitchcockian flavour

Bring two stars together like Jessica Chastain AND Anne Hathaway in the adaptation of a European film it is a strong bet, attractive to international audiences, not just American ones.

Especially when you smell that there is something Hitchcockian, which is not the music, because in Maternal Instinct it is irrelevant, but because of the suspicions of two friends and neighbors, who lived a quiet life in some suburb in the 60’s.

Until, of course, something happens.

Luckily.

Based on the novel Derriere la haineby Barbara Abel, and in the film Duels, by Olivier Masset-DePasse, the protagonists are Céline (Hathaway) and Alice (Chastain), who not only dress fashionably, but whose families are almost mirror images. Céline, with her husband, the medical representative Damian (Josh Charles), and Alice with Simon (Anders Danielsen Lie). Each has a child, but look what a coincidence, of the same age: 8 years old, so, obviously, they attend the same school and the same class.

Little by little the climate will begin to thicken and data will be thrown at the viewer which will then have importance, will be like sources of history.

But they saw that springs can be short or long. Those of the Maternal Instinct remain halfway.

No, it’s not a bad film, it’s a bit flawed, because honestly everything seemed to give a better result.

The curious thing is that the director of the original film, the Belgian Olivier Masset-Depasse, was supposed to direct the Hollywood remake, but for unknown or undisclosed reasons he dropped out. And the Frenchman Benoit Delhomme directed the film, who would only be responsible for the direction of photography. Well, Tsai’s collaborator or enlightener Ming Liang The theory of everything debuts with this suspenseful social drama, let’s say, so as not to label it directly as a thriller.

There are phrases that a character cannot say to another, especially if they are friends or a couple. “You’re losing touch with reality” or “I should have admitted you again” do not serve to gain the other person’s empathy, but on the contrary.

The suspect

The Hitchcockian of Maternal instinct, we said at the beginning, crosses those suspicions that the other is responsible for something. In this way it seems like another suspense film, with suspicions and the word Instinct in the title (Based Instincts).

A film with long plots and rather short dialogues, it’s like playing Distrust with two big stars whose roles are short, very short. Sometimes you hear bombastic phrases, like “God knows I sometimes lose control,” as Alice says, and some say they know how to separate pain and guilt.

What you need to know is to separate a number of loose documents in time.

“Maternal Instinct”

Drama/Suspense United States, 2024. Original title: “The instinct of mothers”. 94′, SAM 16. From: Benoit Delhomme. With: Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Josh Charles, Anders Danielsen Lie. Rooms: Hoyts Abasto and Dot, Cinemark Palermo, Cinépolis Recoleta and Pilar, Showcase Belgrano and Norcenter.