Mother's Instinct (2024) Dir: Benoît Delhomme

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I recall seeing trailers for this Benoît Delhomme directed thriller and thinking it looked fairly interesting. It was based on a 2018 French-language film, which was in turn based on a 2012 novel by Barbara Abel. The reviews have been decidedly middling since the film's release, but I decided to give it a go regardless, after all, the film's runtime barely passed the ninety minute mark.

I thought that the film's soundtrack was immaculate. It felt very much like that of a Hitchcock thriller, like 'Vertigo'. The driving scenes were clearly supposed to evoke nostalgic images of classic films, with the car prop and green screen behind it, but it looked very cheesy - distractingly so, in fact. It was a goofy feature of an otherwise serious film. The film clearly wanted very badly to be like a Hitchcock thriller. It even had a Hitchcock blonde. There was also so much smoking, in just about every scene, that I felt my lungs clogging up just watching it.

Unfortunately, the trailer revealed way too much about the story, which ruined a lot of the surprise that could have been had at some of the film's events. This was a real shame because I actually enjoyed a lot of what the story did. Albeit a little too dramatic at points, I liked the way the film delved into the world of motherhood and familial trauma. The plot did make a few convenient leaps, but I can see what was trying to be achieved. The ending did leave me pretty divided though, it kind of worked, but it also kind of didn't.

My favourite aspect of this film was easily the performances of the two lead actresses. There was an unexpected homoerotic tension between the two that actually really worked for the emotions and drama of the film. The chemistry between them was incontrovertible. Yes, Jessica Chastain was extremely dramatic and over-the-top, but I felt it worked for her character. She had some very strong scenes in the middle portion of the film.

Anne Hathaway clearly decided to throw all of her academy award-winning pedigree at this thriller, because she went all in on the role of traumatised and grieving mother. I did not expect for her to give so much to what ended up being a fairly unsuccessful film. Regardless of that, Hathaway, for money, was excellent. This was with exception to the climactic scenes of the film, where, thanks to some clunky writing, she looked a little mediocre.

None of the male characters in the film were particularly likable, if I'm honest. I found them all quite unlikable and irritating. This was because of both the writing and the performances. This unfortunately included the child actor, Eamon O'Connell, too - he was very wooden. Anders Danielson Lie and Josh Charles weren't as bland, but equally failed to provide compelling characters.

Overall, I must say, I was a little surprised about how much of this film I actually did like. I really thought it would be a lot worse than it was. It had its fair share of issues, of course, and I'm not about to call it a modern classic, but it was undoubtedly watchable. I can see why a lot of people have considered this to be much worse than I do, it definitely had its issues, particularly in regards to some of the writing, but the drama of it was sound.