By Gary

A traumatic thriller Mothers’ Instinct stands out with its brilliant performances from its leading actors.

Alice and Celine live a traditional lifestyle with successful husbands and sons of the same age. Life’s perfect harmony is suddenly shattered after a tragic accident. Guilt, suspicion and paranoia combine to unravel their sisterly bond.

Mothers’ Instinct is set in suburban America and it feels like the 1960’s but I don’t think the year is ever mentioned.

The first half of this movie is very good with the introduction, an exercise in exposition and it does the job slickly and quickly.

Then, after the accident, the depiction of how everyone deals with grief in the context of their own relationships is complex, painful and entirely convincing.

The film then enters psychological thriller territory, is Celine up to nefarious shenanigans or she dealing with her grief?

Or is Alice manifesting unnamed issues which she apparently suffered from in the past?

Mothers’ Instinct does a good job of making you think which of these women is crazy and who you should believe.

The two leading ladies, Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain provide standout performances as they go from close friends to a strained friendship.

A thriller that is intense and feels incredibly real as it deals with mental illness and loss in a very extreme way.

My Rating: 8/10