Instinct (2019 film)

Instinct is a 2019 Dutch drama film directed by Halina Reijn. It was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival. It was selected as the Dutch entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.

Plot
A prison therapist becomes obsessed with her charismatic patient, a violent serial rapist on the verge of being paroled.

Cast

 * Carice van Houten as Nicoline
 * Marwan Kenzari as Idris
 * Marie-Mae van Zuilen as Marieke
 * Pieter Embrechts as Alex
 * Ariane Schluter as Directrice

Release
Instinct premiered at the 72nd Locarno Film Festival. A24 acquired the rights to the film in 2022.

Reception
Instinct has an approval rating of 80% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 15 reviews, and an average rating of 7.4/10. Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 66 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "generally favourable reviews".