Mother’s Instinct (2024)

Plot of Mother’s Instinct: Alice and Celine are neighbours and best friends. They live I big houses and their husbands have good jobs. They also have sons of a similar age, Max and Theo. One day when Max is sick, off school, he falls from a balcony and dies. The relationship between the ladies changes, particularly since Celine seems to be creating a friendship with Theo. Meanwhile her husband drinks heavily. Alice thinks there is something wrong, and when her husband’s mother dies of a heart attack, despite having pills which would prevent such an attack. She thinks Celine has done something, but Alice’s husband thinks she is out of her mind. What is the truth?

Content: There is some fairly decorous sex between husband and wife, a lot of social drinking and constant smoking. This sort of reflects the norms in the 1960s.  We see the ladies being very friendly to each other and then their relationship gradually falling apart after Max falls off the balcony and dies. Things happen which might support Alice’s view of events.

A View: Saw this film in Madrid on its first day of release. You can tell how well movies are doing here, depending on their place in the timetable in the cinemas. So Mother’s Instinct was on at 4 pm on the Friday and will continue to be shown at 4 pm and later for a few days. It is my view that soon it will be relegated to the 10.30 pm slot and will then disappear. My wife and I both thought that some of the events portrayed would have been very unlikely – trying not to write any spoilers.

Fun Fact: Filmed in 24 days.