Mother’s Instinct, a dramatic film starring Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain based on Barbara Abel’s book, tells the story of Celine and Alice, two best friends – and neighbors – who live perfect lives typical of the 60s. After a tragic accident involving Celine’s son, their friendship is affected, creating a dark and insecure environment.
ANALYSIS WITHOUT SPOILERS
The film begins with a photograph filled with vibrant colors and full of light, along with ambiance, correctly conveying the feeling of American society in the 60s at its best, representing the American dream: a family made up of a working husband, a modest homemaker wife, and the son growing up in a previously healthy environment.
In the first few minutes of the movie, the event that moves the entire plot takes place: the death of Celine’s son. From this, a heavy atmosphere is established between the two friends, with a composition of dark colors and shadows coming from Celine in contrast with light colors and more light present coming from Alice, representing the grief and disorder in the life of one and the perfect normality of the other.
Over time, the superficiality of the topics covered begins to become evident along with a drawn-out and shallow plot. The full potential of both main actresses – especially when considering other important works and the fact that they are both Oscar winners – is wasted, making Celine and Alice weak characters.
The way Jessica’s character is portrayed stands out from Anne’s, given the focus on Alice’s family arc, making there a failed attempt to connect to the character – especially if the viewer is a mother.
ANALYSIS WITH SPOILERS
When watching the film, the role of women in society at the time becomes clear: housewife and provider of children. In one scene, the possibility of Alice returning to work as a journalist is debated, but her husband disapproves and begins to encourage her to have more children with him.
Furthermore, it is said throughout the plot that Jessica’s character was already admitted to a psychiatric hospital, because of this she is seen as crazy in many moments, showing that society at the time dealt with mental disorders with disregard and even as a taboo.
Celine blames Alice for her son’s death and Alice accuses her friend of plotting revenge, making both of them act as their maternal instincts dictate. An example of this instinct appearing on screen is through a mask on how to deal with grief, in which the act of care and excessive affection become justifications for all the characters’ actions.
By placing Celine in a position where she loses her only child along with not being able to have any more children, the script solidly establishes the dark tone of the character’s motivations. To try to fill the void that the death of her son Max caused her, Celine tries her best to get closer to Theo, her best friend’s son, causing the women’s friendship to become fragile. As a result, chaos settles in both families and the mothers’ friendship comes to an end.
The final moments of the film were the only ones that grabbed my attention and made me have an affinity with one of the characters and root for her for just a few minutes. The final plot where Alice was right about Celine wanting to break up her family and run away alone with Theo was, in a way, “predictable” for me.
However, I will not deny that seeing Anne Hathaway in the role of a cold and calculating mother doing everything to have a child again – and succeeding – in contrast with Jessica Chastain doing everything to protect her family and failing was a bit “fun”. Seeing the two actresses with their talent not wasted in the only well-constructed thriller scene was enough to make me feel tense in the movie theater seat, even though I wish I had felt that from the beginning.
FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
Finally, I conclude by saying that I left the movie theater with my mother both feeling disappointed. We expected much more, mainly because there were two renowned actresses that we liked playing the main roles. For my mother, the way the maternal instinct is represented is negative, possessive, and considered “crazy” from her perspective.
Besides, given the number of people in the room and the fact that I did not know about the film’s release, I believe that the marketing was not as effective as it should be.
Unfortunately, this film will become just another number on the list of films played by Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain, not being comparable with other notable works by the actresses.
Final score: ★★✮✩✩
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The article above was edited and translated by Giulia El Houssami
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