Mothers' Instinct (2024 film)

Mothers' Instinct is a 2024 American psychological thriller film directed by Benoît Delhomme in his directorial debut, and starring Jessica Chastain, Anne Hathaway, Anders Danielsen Lie, and Josh Charles. It is a remake of Olivier Masset-Depasse's 2018 French-language film, which itself was an adaptation of the 2012 novel Mothers' Instinct (Derrière la haine) by Barbara Abel.

Mothers' Instinct was released in Lithuania on March 8, 2024, and is scheduled to be released in the United States on July 26, 2024.

Plot
In 1960 suburban America, Alice and Céline are next-door neighbors, and both mothers to boys of a similar age. Alice stages a surprise party for Céline's birthday, during which tensions between Alice and her husband become apparent. The next day, Céline's son, Max, stays home sick from school. Alice spots Max standing precariously on a balcony, trying to hang a birdhouse he made at school, she tries to go through a shortcut passageway in the fence the kids made but she can't go in, so she runs around the house to the front gate and attempts to alert his mother, but the two are unable to act quickly enough and Max falls to his death.

After her son's death, Céline distances herself from Alice, but grows closer to her son, Theo. At Max's funeral, Theo notices one of his own toys in Max's coffin and lashes out. After the funeral, Céline leaves for an unknown location for a month, and when she returns, she reconciles with Alice. One day Alice leaves Theo with Céline at her house and she sees Theo playing bubbles on the same balcony Max fell from. She panics and runs to him, but this time she can cross the passageway through the fence and immediately gets near to Céline's house. Céline appears beside Theo, explaining she was there watching the kid but she quickly noticed Alice could get through the fence for her own son, unlike the last time for Max. Alice also notices that and thinks the incident was Céline's attempt to test her. Theo grows even closer with Céline, to the point of inviting her to his birthday party, much to Alice's dismay. The party goes as expected, but afterward, Alice's mother-in-law (Simon's mother) suddenly collapses, dying of a heart attack.

Simon's mother has been taking medication for her heart, but an autopsy carried out at Alice's request reveals no trace of that medication in her bloodstream. Alice suspects that Céline has been replacing the drug with a placebo, but her attempts to find evidence prove fruitless. Alice's suspicions deepen when Theo is hospitalized after a severe allergic reaction at Céline's house, with Alice believing Céline has deliberately encouraged Theo to eat food to which he is allergic. Alice enters Céline's house while she is out one day to attempt to find evidence, but Céline catches her and orders her to leave.

Alice and Simon contemplate moving away from Céline, but the two eventually reconcile after Theo threatens to take his own life in response to their feud. Later that night, Céline kills her husband by sedating him with chloroform and slicing his wrist, making it look like a suicide. Alice and Simon allow a seemingly distraught Céline to stay with them, but while Alice goes to Céline's house to gather the rest of Céline's things, Céline sedates Simon and Theo. When Alice discovers this, she and Céline fight. Alice initially fends off Céline's attempt to forcibly sedate her, but Céline later does succeed in sedating her and killing both her and Simon by disconnecting their boiler to stage a gas leak. She spares Theo and later adopts him.

Cast

 * Jessica Chastain as Alice
 * Anne Hathaway as Céline
 * Anders Danielsen Lie as Simon
 * Josh Charles as Damian
 * Eamon O'Connell as Theo
 * Caroline Lagerfelt as Granny Jean
 * Baylen D. Bielitz as Max

Production
In October 2020, it was reported that Olivier Masset-Depasse was hired to direct. Jessica Chastain and Anne Hathaway were cast to star in the film, with Chastain's production company Freckle Films producing. In June 2022, Benoît Delhomme replaced Masset-Depasse as director after leaving due to a "family commitment", marking their directorial debut. Josh Charles and Anders Danielsen Lie were also added to the cast.

Principal photography began on May 25, 2022, in Union County, New Jersey.

Release
In May 2022, Neon acquired the US distribution rights. The following month, StudioCanal acquired the rights for the United Kingdom and Ireland, while Amazon MGM Studios bought the rights for Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Mothers' Instinct was released in Lithuania on March 8, 2024. It was released in the UK on March 27, 2024. It was released in China on May 24, 2024, in 2,500 theaters. It was released in Spain on June 14, 2024 in 290 theaters by Vértice 360. It is scheduled to be released theatrically in the United States on July 26, 2024, and through digital platforms on August 13, 2024.

Reception
Guy Lodge of Variety wrote, "[but] Mothers' Instinct doesn't breathe: It hasn't the grandeur of great melodrama, nor the savoir-faire of great noir. Like its mismatched heroines, it's constantly, twitchily figuring itself out, as we sit tight, intrigued, tensely waiting for it to trip".