Mothers' Instinct (2024)

Set in 1960 American suburbia, two very different women and neighbors are best friends. Celine (Anne Hathaway), a former nurse, is content as a wife and mother but Alice (Jessica Chastain) wants more and yearns to return to her former career, a newspaper reporter. But a tragedy will send both women into a spiral of grief, paranoia and a psychotic breakdown. Based on the novel DERRIERE LA HAINE by Barbara Abel (previously filmed in France in 2018) and directed by cinematographer Benoit Delhomme (THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING) in his directorial debut. One can see what drew Hathaway and Chastain to the film (they're co-producers on the film), the two female roles are juicy and full of layers and the reason to see the movie are the two actresses. This is Hathaway's best performance in years. But the film is unsettling as you understand the psychological path of its characters and while it's possible to empathize with both, you're never quite sure which character is sane and which is psychotic. While the film's grim finale is inevitable, I don't think anyone will be happy with it. With Anders Danielsen Lie, Josh Charles, Caroline Laerfelt and Eamon O'Connell.