Instinct (2019 Film)

''Instinct'' is a 2019 Dutch drama film directed by Halina Reijn in her feature-length directorial debut from a script she co-wrote with Esther Gerritsen and it stars Carice van Houten and Marwan Kenzari. It follows Nicoline, a prison therapist who becomes obsessed with a patient, who is a serial rapist.

Development of the film started in 2015 under the name of ''Locus of Control'' based on a pitch by Reijn. She and Gerritsen did extensive research into the subject while writing the script, including a visit at a clinic. Filming took place in May 2018 over the course of 23 days on a modest budget.

The film had its premiere at the 72nd Locarno Film Festival and was the opening film at the 39th Netherlands Film Festival on September 27, it was released in Dutch theaters the following week. It received generally positive reviews from critics and was selected as the Dutch entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.

Plot

A prison therapist becomes obsessed with her charismatic patient, a violent serial rapist on the verge of being paroled.

Cast

Production

The idea for the film came when Reijn was watching a documentary programme called "Liefde in de TBS" (Love in the TBS) broadcast by EO, how about how relationships happen between therapists and their patients in a prison psychiatric hospital. She wanted to explore intimacy with a woman who is unable to be intimate with others due to her being hurt in the past, which makes her doubt her own instincts in regard to her own sexuality and desires. Reijn wanted to examine her own confused feelings around her own sexuality and alongside wanted to explore themes of power, sexuality and intimacy.

Reijn pitched the concept to film producer Frans van Gestel, about a psychotherapist who falls for her worst enemy. Van Gestel contacted five screenwriters for the project, of the five, Esther Gerristen was the one hired. Reijn viewed it as an important step at the time. She regarded having a second writer as necessary. Reijn and Gerristen began with research and writing of the script in 2015. Following the start of the #MeToo movement, they got more motivated to see the project through after the movement took off. They researched anything they could find about TBS, including a visit to a TBS-clinic in order to fact-check their own work. Michel Schöpping was brought in by van Gestel for the sound design. He also surrounded Reijn with other experienced professionals, including cinematographer Jasper Wolf and editor Job ter Burg.

In one of their first meetings they decided to include less female nudity, with a focus on the female gaze. Van Houten, recalled in hindsight asking herself the question regarding her previous projects, "Why am I even naked for this scene?", they also wanted to avoid the objectification of women in the film and wanna show off sexuality without immediately adding female nudity. The movie does contains male nudity, and they wanted include full frontal nudity, but they were overruled, even though Kenzari was up for it.

Writing and filming happened under the working title of ''Locus of Control''. Carice van Houten and Marwan Kenzari were cast in the lead roles, van Houten was also a co-producer on the project. Marie-Mae van Zuilen, Ariane Schluter, Betty Schuurman, Pieter Embrechts, Tamar van den Dop, Robert de Hoog, Juda Goslinga and Akwasi Owusu Ansah filled out the rest of the cast. They decided to keep the production small-scale with a modest budget, principal photography took only 23 days. The shoot took place in May 2018. They changed the name from Locus of Control to Instinct, realizing most people wouldn't know the term locus of control. Composer Ella van der Woude was brought onto the end of production, as she was shown a finished cut. Before signing on she remarked if they needed her at all, as she thought the film already worked without any music.

Release

The world premiere of the ''Instinct'' was on August 12, 2019 at the 72nd Locarno Film Festival. It was the first Dutch film to be selected for the festival. It was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival. The film was the opening film for the 39th Netherlands Film Festival on September 27. The original scheduled Dutch cinema release date for the film was October 3, but was moved up for the purpose of complying with the eligibility rules for the Academy Awards, which states that films need to be released in the country of origin before October 1st in order to qualify. Film distributor September Film stated that film theatres were giving the option to show the film earlier following its debut at the Netherlands Film Festival.

''Instinct'' also played at the BFI London Film Festival in October, where it was nominated for the Sutherland Trophy. That same month it also shown at the Film Fest Gent and Chicago International Film Festival, at the latter it competed in the New Directors Competition. The film was selected as one of the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film entries that was shown at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in January 2020.

On September 19, 2022, it was announced that A24 had acquired North American distribution rights to the film, exclusively screening it as double feature with Reijn's ''Bodies Bodies Bodies'' in the company's screening room three days later on September 22.

Reception

''Instinct'' has an approval rating of 80% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 15 reviews, and an average rating of 7.4/10. Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 66 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "generally favourable reviews".

The film was awarded the Golden Film for having sold 100.000 tickets at the Dutch box office.

Awards and nominations

See also

* List of submissions to the 92nd Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film
* List of Dutch submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Instinct
2019 films
2019 drama films
2019 psychological thriller films
2010s prison films
Dutch drama films
2010s Dutch-language films
Films directed by Halina Reijn
September Film Distribution films
2019 directorial debut films