Suburban Tragedy Unravels Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain in ‘Mothers’ Instinct’ Trailer

Academy Award-winning actresses Jessica Chastain and Anne Hathaway are having a literal mother-off in the first official trailer for Mothers’ Instinct. The forthcoming directorial debut from cinematographer Benoît Delhomme stars Chastain and Hathaway as Alice and Céline, respectively and follows their picture-perfect life in Sixties suburbia: they’re best friends raising sons of the same age in the same neighborhood together.

But the seeds of guilt and paranoia begin to blossom into an ugly, monstrous plant when Alice sprints into her neighbor’s home to warn Céline that her son Max is standing too close to the edge of the upstairs balcony. But their maternal instinct wasn’t quick enough. In an instant, Céline is without a son, and Alice’s own son, Theo, is without his best friend.

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“You need to separate the grief from the guilt,” Alice tells Céline, who bites back: “What guilt, Alice?” They exchange weary glances, but within Céline’s eyes, Alice can see the pain she carries with her. “She thinks I should have saved her son,” she says. It’s here that the thorns of the psychological thriller emerge as Alice’s husband questions whether she’s simply weaving a false narrative in her own mind about Céline’s emotions. But as Céline gravitates closer to Theo in the absence of her own son, Alice’s concerns begin to seem more and more logical.

Mothers’ Instinct is based on Barbara Abel’s novel of the same name, published in 2012. The novel was first adapted in 2018 for a Belgian film directed by Olivier Masset-Depasse and starring Veerle Baetens alongside Anne Coesens. Josh Charles and Anders Danielsen Lie appear in the 2024 film alongside Hathaway and Chastain.

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