Basic Instinct

United States, France

1992

127 Min

Color

2.35:1

English

Currently 2.9/5 Stars.
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CAST Michael Douglas, Sharon Stone, Jeanne Tripplehorn, George Dzundza, Denis Arndt, Leilani Sarelle, Bruce A. Young, Dorothy Malone, Stephen Tobolowsky, Wayne Knight, Chelcie Ross, Daniel von Bargen, Benjamin Mouton, Jack McGee, James Rebhorn, Bill Cable

MUSIC Jerry Goldsmith

Cannes (In Competition), San Sebastián (American Way of Death)

Synopsis

A former rock star, Johnny Boz, is brutally killed during sex, and the case is assigned to detective Nick Curran of the SFPD. During the investigation, Nick meets Catherine Tramell, a crime novelist who was Boz’s girlfriend when he died. Catherine proves to be a very clever and manipulative woman, and though Nick is more or less convinced that she murdered Boz, he is unable to find any evidence. Later, when Nilsen, Nick’s rival in the police, is killed, Nick suspects of Catherine’s involvement in it. He then starts to play a dangerous lust-filled mind game with Catherine to nail her, but as their relationship progresses, the body count rises and contradicting evidences force Nick to start questioning his own suspicions about Catherine’s guilt. —IMDb

Director

Paul Verhoeven

Paul Verhoeven graduated from the University of Leiden with a degree in math and physics. He entered the Royal Netherlands Navy, where he began his film career by making documentaries for the Navy and later for TV. In 1969 he directed the popular Dutch TV series Floris (1969), about a medieval knight. This featured actor Rutger Hauer who has appeared in many of Verhoeven’s later films. Verhoeven’s first feature, Wat zien ik (1971) (trans. What do I See?), was released in 1971. However it was his second, Turks fruit (1973), with its combination of raw sexuality and a poignant story line, that gained him great popularity in the Netherlands, especially with male audiences. When his films, especially Soldaat van Oranje (1977) and De vierde man (1983), received international recognition, Verhoeven moved to the US. His first US film was Flesh & Blood (1985), 1985, but it was RoboCop (1987) and especially Total Recall… read more

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Jake

10May13

I took this as less of a Hitchcock riff than of a goof on the De Palma-doing-Hitchcock sexual thriller. Another entry into the "Michael Douglas gets cuckolded" and "Sharon Stone WHY YOU SO CRAZY" canons.

Ben

5Dec12

I was surprised at how much I liked this film.

Mark Garrett

28Nov12

On the periphery of Verhoeven's satirical genius, he's got an undermentioned strong sense of craft. With this one, and Showgirls, he's filmed some of the sexiest stuff on film, the characters vehement cat-like sexual advances just like the roundelays of Sharon Stone's tongue against Douglas' wide-eyed desire to believe in her innocence, but only so he can keep fucking her, while he slowly adopts her attitude himself.

atpgaga and 2 others like this

Trevor Tillman, HKFanatic