What If Jessica Chastain and Anne Hathaway Had a Mother-Off, and We All Lost?

As a movie critic with a background in women’s studies and a personal experience of motherhood, I find “Mothers’ Instinct” to be a disappointingly shallow exploration of the complexities of female friendship and maternal instinct. The film, which stars Jessica Chastain and Anne Hathaway, had been highly anticipated due to its stellar cast and intriguing premise. However, the final product leaves much to be desired.

I’ve been looking forward to the new film “Mothers’ Instinct” featuring Jessica Chastain and Anne Hathaway, but its release in the U.S. has been surprisingly low-key. After generating buzz in the U.K. months ago, it seems to be entering our theaters with as much fanfare as a quiet Olympic diver executing a perfect triple somersault tuck. The thriller, directed by Benoît Delhomme, has received lackluster reception, leaving me longing to discuss it with someone who’s seen it. Sadly, that’s been a challenge since most people are unfamiliar with the movie.

In simpler terms, the film “Mothers’ Instinct” isn’t exactly like a campy production, but it comes close if you look at it from a distant perspective. The costumes worn by Chastain and Hathaway are not just representing 1960s housewives, but rather two people who can’t decide on what to wear for a fancy party. Chastain as Alice is dressed like a classic Hitchcock blonde with pin-curled hairstyles and cardigan sets. Hathaway as Céline is given a Jackie O. look featuring a bouffant hairstyle, pillbox hats, and gloves. The two women are like cosplayers in an elegant yet confined environment, living next to each other on a street that might as well be in space, with their husbands (Anders Danielsen Lie and Josh Charles) frequently leaving for work. The meticulously recreated setting of the film lacks a clear purpose, creating an atmosphere similar to “Don’t Worry Darling,” where everyone seems trapped in a stylized dream of Americana without realizing the twist or waking up from it.

While Alice grapples with guilt over leaving her journalism career behind to care for her son Theo, and Céline faces social exclusion following the demise of her son Max, the film “Mothers’ Instinct” surprisingly doesn’t delve deeply into the struggles of living under a restrictive 1960s patriarchy. Instead, it explores a classic theme, encapsulated as: “Women can be unpredictable.”

Not, it seems, when the opportunities to stare coldly into space or look on in glassy betrayal are this good. I’m not trying to sound snide here — the characters in Mothers’ Instinct have no convincing inner lives at all, but the exterior work of the actors playing them is choice stuff. When Alice and Céline are getting along, Chastain and Hathaway nuzzle together supportively like long-necked swans. When things start to go south, Chastain opts for an aloof distance with stricken eyes, while Hathaway prefers a labored smile that drops as soon as she’s alone. Theirs is a brittle-off no one can win, but both try their hardest anyway. The effort reaches its crescendo at Max’s funeral, where Hathaway’s enormous eyes glimmer through the barrier of a black lace veil and Chastain tilts her face up so that the elegant tracks of past tears can gleam in the light. The scene ends with Céline collapsing in anguish while Alice rushes her tantrumming child out of the church, an explosion of drama that would be so much more effective if the movie had left any room for modulation instead of starting at 10 and staying there. Mothers’ Instinct gets much sillier before it ends, but given how little it establishes as its baseline tone, it doesn’t feel fair to say it goes off the rails. Rather, as Hathaway stares brokenly into the dark and Chastain tears apart her nightstand drawer in panic, what comes to mind is how great a set of GIFs this movie will make someday. That’s not much, but I guess it’s something?

2024-07-27 01:35

What If Jessica Chastain and Anne Hathaway Had a Mother-Off, and We All Lost?

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