BASIC INSTINCT
US, 1992, 128 minutes, Colour
Michael Douglas, Sharon Stone, George Dzundza, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Leilani Sarelle, Chelcie Ross, Dorothy Malone, Wayne Knight, Daniel von Bargen, Stephen Tobolosky.
Directed by Paul Verhoeven.
Basic Instinct has acquired cult status as well as a great deal of notoriety. On its first release, it was the subject of discussion because of a high, three-million-dollar, pay given to writer Joe Eszterhas. Eszterhas had already written such films as Jagged Edge, Betrayed, Music Box. He was to collaborate with Paul Verhoeven on the ill-fated Showgirls - and his writing career went into decline after this, although he wrote such films as Burn, Hollywood, Burn and he and his wife appeared in the film.
The film is basically a murder thriller. It is also an erotic thriller. Where it received its notoriety was from the interview scene with Sharon Stone and disputes about what underwear she was wearing or not wearing. This scene occurs comparatively early in the film and, once it is got out of the way, it is no longer a distraction and the film can concentrate on the characters of the writer who is a murderess, cold and calculating, charming, who is writing another novel using a burnt-out detective, Michael Douglas, as the model for her character. As he continues to investigate, he is seduced by her, falls in love with her, begins to believe that she could not have done the murders.
The film is a tour de force for Sharon Stone and, in retrospect, she gives a very skilful and calculated performance as Katherine Tranell, who probably had killed her parents, her professor, other people just to see whether she could do it and then used these incidents as models for her writing. It gives her the opportunity to look extremely glamorous in glamorous settings. Michael Douglas is adept at this kind of role, and one remembers his behaviour in Fatal Attraction. George Dzundza gives strong support as his close friend and fellow detective. Jeanne Tripplehorn is the ambiguous police psychologist. There is a cameo from Dorothy Malone as Sharon Stone's friend.
As a murder mystery, the film is very graphic. As an erotic thriller, it is also quite graphic. This is the work of Dutch director Paul Verhoeven (The Fourth Man, Spetters, Soldier of Orange in Holland before coming to the United States with Robo Cop, Total Recall - with Sharon Stone). His Dutch sensibility makes him much more direct in communication of images and themes than the average American director.
The plot is quite complicated, the deceit on the part of the Stone character, the burnt-out collapse of the Michael Douglas character, the ambiguity of the Jeanne Tripplehorn character and the indications that it is entirely plausible that she could have committed the murders. Although, by the end, it seems with her death, she was one of the intended victims.
It is difficult to separate the film itself from all the controversy. If it were possible, it would mean that it is a glamorous and intriguing murder mystery and investigation.
1. The impact of the film? Its graphic style? Its glossy settings? The ambiguity of its characters and themes? Murder investigation?
2. The controversies, Joe Eszterhas's writing, payments? The Sharon Stone character, the controversial sequence and the consequent discussions? The film as the basis for Sharon Stone's successful career?
3. The San Francisco settings, the police precincts, the clubs and apartments, homes? The sea and the home by the sea? Affluent atmosphere? The musical score?
4. The title, the music and the visuals of the credits sequences, prurient, intriguing, mysterious? Basic sexual instincts and their being dramatised? Basic violent instincts and their being dramatised? Basic instincts for deception, self-deception?
5. The portrait of Nick as a burnt-out policeman, the background of his marriage and divorce, the accidental shootings and their consequences for him, being investigated by Internal Affairs, having to go to the psychiatrist? His drinking, smoking, womanising? His affair with Beth Garner? His friendship with Gus, Gus's continued support? The hostility of Nilsen and the investigation, the taunts, the clashes? His investigating Katherine Tranell, going to the scene of the crime, the interview, visiting her house with Gus, her fencing verbally with him? The interrogation? His being provoked by Katherine, even to smoking again? His being intrigued by her? His interviews with Beth, the hearings, his anger? The relationship with Beth? In the bar, Nilsen's taunts, Beth's arrival, his going off with her, his vicious sexual activity and her being repelled? His further involvement with Katherine, the discussions, trying to investigate her? His being the subject of her novel? The proposed ending and the violence? Roxy and her watching, her jealousy, her pursuing Nick in the car, knocking him down, his pursuing her in the car, her death? His interest in Hazel Dobkins, the information on the Internet, his glimpsing of her twice with Katherine? Her murderous background, Roxy's murderous background? Katherine being friends with them? The revelation about Beth, her relationship with Katherine, Katherine's version, Beth's version? The further investigation and his walking out from the psychological assessment? Gus and his warning Nick? The build-up to the denouement, Katherine finishing her novel, discarding Nick? Gus and the appointment with the college friend of Beth, the apartment, Nick watching, Gus's murder? His encountering Beth, thinking she was going to shoot, her death? His going back to Katherine, in the bedroom - and her not using the ice-pick?
6. Katherine, the initial sex scene, the vicious murder with the ice-pick? Her being the girlfriend of the victim, her being interviewed in her house, her provocative attitudes in changing her clothes, the underwear/not? Going to the station, her playing with the interviewers, leading them on, sexual provocation? Nick and the cigarettes? His driving her home? Her writing the novel, his being the central character?
7. The background and her past, information about her parents and their death, her wealth, her publications, their relationship to dead families, dead professors, dead rock stars? Her relationship with Roxy? The past relationship with Beth, each's story, the truth? Her friendship with Hazel Dobkins? The lesbian overtones? The association with violence? The affair with Nick, his thinking it was wonderful, her taunting him? The scenes on the beach, their conversations, the writing of the novel? The further investigation about the professor, her study days? Her studying psychology and literature? Gus's warnings? Her finally discarding Nick? The finale, the ice-pick?
8. Gus, investigation, robust, friendly, understanding Nick, supporting him? The interviews, his exasperation with Nick's affair? The final lead, the brutal death with the ice-pick?
9. Beth, her relationship with Nick, her dead husband and his being shot, her relationship with Katherine, the lesbian overtones, her explanations? The interviews with Nick, professionally? Going home with him, his violence towards her and her being repelled? Her desperation with Nick, her past? Her being in the apartment block, Nick thinking she was going to shoot him, the toy in her pocket, her final words of love to Nick, her death? The possibility that she could have been the killer given the circumstances?
10. The police department, the chief and his investigation, exasperation with Nick? The mayor's representative and his presence, supervising? Nilsen, Internal Affairs, his antagonism towards Nick? His death and the money in his possession?
11. The psychological background of the film, Katherine and Beth having studied psychology, the psychological expert being called in to speculate about the possibility of Katherine being the murderer, using her novel as an alibi? The panel for Nick?
12. The tradition of film noir - but given the affluent glossy tone of the 1990s?
