Mothers' Instinct

After a tragic accident shatters the friendly alliance between two neighbours, they start harassing each other to find out who really was responsible for what happened. While the audience at first thinks it was a perfectly banal accident, their doubt is being fuelled scene after scene...

Veerle Baetens' en Anne Coessens' performances are filled with subtle mistrust and held-back anger. These two characters playing off each other are a true feast for the spectators. Also the young Jules Lefebre acts with a maturity beyond his years. The cinematography by Hichame Alaouie is effective and - even though the pace at times threatens to slow down a bit too much - keeps every scene interesting and fresh: playing with angles, lighting and other effects to signify the slow descent into madness. Olivier Masset-Depasses' direction is clean, whilst never sinking into blandness.

However, the omnipresent score is overblown and lacks subtlety, but regularly does capture the right atmosphere for the scene. The story after a while threatens to loose its own point, but regains its footing again in the finale. And what a chilling finale that was! One last nit-picking comment can be that the film could have raised uncertainty and suspicion even more than it in fact did.

Finally, one cannot ignore the not-so-subtle hints to Hitchcock's work in the production design, costumes and building of tension. It's expertly done and - in my humble opinion - this movie is perfectly capable of standing between great names such as 'Rear Window' and 'The Man Who Knew Too Much'. A shame it only came out in 2018, because back in the 60's, it would have perplexed it's audiences. It's not without drawbacks, but then again... which one of Hitchcock wasn't?