''Mothers' Instinct'' () is a 2018 Belgian

psychological thriller film thriller is a genre combining the thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting. In terms of context and convention, it ...

directed by

Olivier Masset-Depasse Olivier Masset-Depasse is a Belgian film director and screenwriter. He made his feature-length debut in 2006 with ''Cages''. In 2010, he wrote and directed '' Illegal'', which premiered at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for eight M ...

. The story is loosely based on the 2012 novel ''Behind the Hatred'' (''Derrière la haine'') by Barbara Abel. The film was screened as a special presentation at the

2018 Toronto International Film Festival The 43rd annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from September 6 to 16, 2018. In June 2018, the TIFF organizers announced a program to ensure that at least 20 percent of all film critics and journalists given press accreditation to ...

. It received ten nominations at the

10th Magritte Awards The 10th Magritte Awards ceremony, presented by the Académie André Delvaux, honored the best films of 2019 in Belgium. It took place on 1 February 2020, at the Square, in the historic site of Mont des Arts, Brussels. During the ceremony, the Ac ...

, winning nine, including Best Film and

Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to: Film awards * AACTA Award for Best Direction * Academy Award for Best Director * As ...

for Masset-Depasse, setting the record for the most Magritte Awards won by a single film. It was later overtaken by '' Night Call'' (2025), which won ten awards.

Cast

Veerle Baetens Veerle Baetens (born 24 January 1978) is a Belgian actress, filmmaker, and singer best known for her lead role as Elise / Alabama in the romantic drama film '' The Broken Circle Breakdown'' (2012), for which she won the Tribeca Film Festival Aw ...

as Alice Brunelle * Anne Coesens as Céline Geniot * Mehdi Nebbou as Simon Brunelle * Arieh Worthalter as Damien Geniot * Jules Lefebvres as Theo Brunelle * Luan Adam as Maxime Geniot * Annick Blancheteau as Jeanne Brunelle

Response

Critical reception

The film holds rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

based on critic reviews, with an average rating of .

Accolades

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mothers' Instinct 2018 films 2018 psychological thriller films Belgian drama films Belgian thriller films Films based on Belgian novels Films based on mystery novels French drama films French psychological thriller films 2010s French-language films Magritte Award winning films 2018 drama films French-language Belgian films 2010s French films Films scored by Frédéric Vercheval 2010s Belgian films Films produced by Jacques-Henri Bronckart