Mothers' instinct
Year of release : 2024
Run time : 1h34min
Genre : Psychological Thriller
Cast : Jessica Chastain, Anne Hathaway
The movie is a remake of the 2018 French movie 'Duelles' ,based on the 2012 novel 'Derriere la haine'(meaning Behind the hatred) by Barbara Abel.
Placed in the 1960's suburban America, Alice and Celine are best friends, who live right next door to each other. They are married, they have beautiful homes, and have each,a son of the same age.
The movie opens with Alice,waiting for Celine to leave, so she could go to her place,and stage a surprise party for her birthday.
During the party we see how close the two are, and the fact Alice wants to go back to work, to have a career, while her husband wants her to stay home, and have another child.
The next day, Celine's son stays home, and working in the garden, Alice sees him standing on the balcony's ledge,trying to put a birdhouse in a tree.She screams at him to get down, and by the time she gets to him, he falls.
Celine and her husband are devastated, and they seem to hate on Alice (at first I thought they thought she pushed their son,and that's why they react like that towards her) .
At the funeral Celine puts Alice's son's toy on her son's casket,causing the boy to make a scene.
After, Alice finds her son at Celine's place, on the same balcony, and she runs after him, trying to make sure he won't jump. She realizes this was a test ,as Celine wanted her to see if she would get there faster (through the bushes they had as fences) to save him.
Alice starts to see a change in Celine ,and she thinks she wants to k1ll her son,after when they visit Celine's place, Celine tells him to eat whatever he wants placed in the kitchen,and he chooses the biscuits he's allergic too,ending up in the hospital.
Her husband doesn't believe her, even after she tells him she had an autopsy done for his mother, who died of a heart attack,although she was taking her pills regularly.
It becomes obvious Celine is trying to get rid of everyone in her path to get to Alice's son.
I liked the movie, but I pretty much hated all the characters,except for Alice, because of the things they were doing. Alice is not without flaw either,as she's not that bright (when she goes to Celine's house when she's not home, she leaves her keys on the table,leaves the door to the basement opened,and the string of the light swing).
Celine becomes annoying fast, and turns from a good friend to an enemy, and Alice just stays friends with her, instead of seizing all contact with her,changing the locks, telling her son to stay away from her, and making sure he does (they actually let him spend time with her, babysit...and she starts messing with his head, becoming his best friend,'cause that's not weird at all! ) ,and,move the h3ll out! She actually finally has the idea to do so,but tells the viper,and ..you'll see how she and her husband end up!
Alice's son was so annoying, I felt like slapping him around most of the time.
The husbands are annoying (and unattractive), Alice's husband doesn't care about what she wants, only about what he wants, when she tells him what's going on (having an autopsy on his mother,because she suspects Celine of switching her pills), he threatens her to have her committed (she had some problems when her parents died in a car crash,and she was in the back seat,and the depression came back when she had her son,being afraid to hold him,thinking she might drop him).
Celine's husband seems to hate Alice, and he also seems to be an alcoholic now, crying after his lost son.
I liked the set design, the houses were so beautiful, outside and inside. I liked the women's clothes.
The acting was good.
The soundtrack was good.
The movie is streaming for free on AppleTv+, and is for rent/ sale on Amazon Prime Video, AppleTv,and is still in cinemas, you can buy tickets on Fandango.
Rating : Worth a watch !