Mothers’ Instinct
Jessica Chastain and Anne Hathaway play inseparable next-door-neighbours in a remake that is as gripping as it is stylish.
Anatomy of a fall: Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain
It is seldom that a multiplex release boasts the presence of two leading ladies. And for those parts to be filled by a pair of Oscar-winning actresses is a rare treat indeed. While Godzilla and Kong were doing their thing at enormous cost to the environment, and a giant panda was kicking butt across China, none other than Jessica Chastain and Anne Hathaway slipped under the radar in one of the first notable films to open after the awards season.
A remake of the 2018 Belgian thriller Duelles, itself based on Barbara Abel’s 2012 novel Derrière la haine, Mothers’ Instinct oozes the self-confidence of a piece directed by Todd Haynes mining the murky depths of Patricia Highsmith (as he did with Carol). All the more remarkable is that this heralds the directorial debut of the French cinematographer Benoît Delhomme, whose credits include The Scent of Green Papaya, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and The Theory of Everything. Stylishness in itself is not a stamp of superior cinema, but Delhomme uses his visual chic to pay homage to Hitchcock and Douglas Sirk, among others, wherein prowls a story of everyday folk in 1960s’ New Jersey where suburban nightmares are draped in rayon and martinis.
So close are next-door neighbours Alice (Jessica Chastain) and Céline (Anne Hathaway) that one suspects Bergman’s Persona might be lurking in the boudoir. But Delhomme juggles his narrative balls with subtle finesse, simultaneously broaching themes of middle-class values, family, motherhood, female friendship, sudden loss and, eventually, psychosis. But where the film succeeds so effectively is that we are at a loss as to ascertain who is actually losing their marbles…
It’s a hard trick to keep an audience guessing while keeping them invested in the characters. Alice’s husband Simon (Anders Danielsen Lie) seems to be an inconsiderate support act, denying his wife the chance to follow her dream to return to the workplace, while Céline’s other half, Damian (Josh Charles), hovers morosely in the shadows with a drink. This is 1960 when men went to work and women kept the household in order, along with the offspring. Here, Alice and Céline are further bonded by their eight-year-old sons, who are inseparable best friends. But, as we learn later, Céline is unable to have a second child, whereas Alice doesn’t want one. Thereby hangs the status quo, a fragile glue that can become unstuck at a moment’s notice…
Although the actresses have negotiated equal-billing – Chastain’s name is on the left of the screen, Hathaway’s name is above – it is Chastain’s (Alice’s) point-of-view we follow. But both actresses are good enough to cover their emotional tracks, so we don’t know who to believe, while the slivers of exposition materialise like papercuts. Just one thing is certain – in the future you’ll think twice about letting your neighbour have a spare key to your front door.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Jessica Chastain, Anne Hathaway, Josh Charles, Anders Danielsen Lie, Eamon Patrick O'Connell, Baylen D. Bielitz, Caroline Lagerfelt.
Dir Benoît Delhomme, Pro Kelly Carmichael, Jessica Chastain, Anne Hathaway, Paul Nelson and Jacques-Henri Bronckart, Screenplay Sarah Conradt, from Barbara Abel's novel Derrière la haine, Ph Benoît Delhomme, Pro Des Russell Barnes, Ed Juliette Welfling, Music Anne Nikitin, Costumes Mitchell Travers.
Anton/Freckle Films/Mosaic/Versus Production-StudioCanal.
94 mins. USA. 2024. UK Rel: 27 March 2024. Cert. 15.
