The top-tier teaming of Jessica Chastain and Anne Hathaway drive “Mothers’ Instinct”, a pulpy and fun suburban thriller from director and cinematographer Benoît Delhomme. The two luminous stars sink right into their roles as neighbors, best friends and mothers who watch their relationship crumble following a horrific tragedy. Anders Danielsen Lie and Josh Charles add sturdy supporting roles, but this is Chastain and Hathaway’s show and their magnetism makes the film’s blemishes a little easier to get past.

With “Mothers’ Instinct” Delhomme plays with a premise that could have been plucked straight out of Hitchcock’s oeuvre. His film is a remake of Olivier Masset-Depasse’s 2018 Belgian thriller that was an adaptation of Barbara Abel’s 2012 novel of the same name. The screenplay is by Sarah Conradt who does a good job playing with our perceptions of her characters. But it shows cracks as plot holes begin to add up, specifically in the film’s second half.

Set in the 1960s, Alice (Chastain) and Celine (Hathaway) are best friends and next-door neighbors living in a sunlit and tree-lined suburbia. Their almost matching two-story homes sit pristinely on immaculately manicured lawns that are separated by one long green hedge. Both have 8-year-old sons who are best buddies and spend much of their time together. And both have husbands who leave early for work while the wives stay behind and manage the home. It’s a glossy snapshot of a segment of 1960s society.

Alice and Celine’s relationship forever changes after Celine’s son Max (Baylen D. Bielitz) falls from his home’s top-floor balcony and is tragically killed. Alice could see Max from her yard but couldn’t reach him in time. Celine, who had been cleaning house in another room when her son fell, plunges into a deep depression while her husband Damian (Charles) sinks into the bottle.

In the days that follow, Celine goes out of her way to avoid Alice which causes the anxious Alice to worry that Celine may blame her for Max’s death. But things really take a more twisted turn after Celine starts showing extra attention to Alice’s son, Theo (Eamon Patrick O’Connell). Alice’s husband Simon (Lie) brushes it off as Celine’s way of coping with her grief. But Alice isn’t so sure which leads to a mounting tension between the former best friends.

But here’s the movie’s big trick – which woman is coming unglued? Is it Celine, Alice, or both? Delhomme gives us ample reasons to question both, shifting our suspicions from one to the other until everything comes into focus during the final act. As the drama unfolds, Conradt uses social norms of the time to divert our attention and mask where the story is really going. It doesn’t all gel as intended, but it certainly makes following along a lot of fun.

That said, the movie still wobbles under the unfortunate weight of obvious plot holes and lapses in logic. Several seemingly meaningful elements of the story turn out to be little more than devices that are utterly forgotten once they move the story to its next point. It’s a nagging issue that keeps this otherwise well acted and visually striking psychodrama from being as memorable as it could have been. But it’s still Chastain and Hathaway – two actresses who make everything they’re in worth seeing. It’s no different here.

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS