Basic Instinct (1992)

Director:

Paul Verhoeven

Writer (WGA):

Joe Eszterhas (written by)

Release Date:

20 March 1992 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

A brutal murder. A brilliant killer. A cop who can't resist the danger.

Plot:

A police detective is in charge of the investigation of a brutal murder, in which a beautiful and seductive woman could be involved.

Plot Keywords:

Detective | Suspect | Police | Murder | Novelist

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 5 wins & 16 nominations

Cast

Michael Douglas	...	Detective Nick Curran
Sharon Stone	...	Catherine Tramell
George Dzundza	...	Gus
Jeanne Tripplehorn	...	Dr. Beth Garner
Denis Arndt	...	Lieutenant Walker
Leilani Sarelle	...	Roxy
Bruce A. Young	...	Andrews
Chelcie Ross	...	Captain Talcott
Dorothy Malone	...	Hazel Dobkins
Wayne Knight	...	John Correli
Daniel von Bargen	...	Lieutenant Nilsen (as Daniel Von Bargen)
Stephen Tobolowsky	...	Dr. Lamott
Benjamin Mouton	...	Harrigan
Jack McGee	...	Sheriff
Bill Cable	...	Johnny Boz

Also Known As:

Basic Instinct (France)
Ice Cold Desire (Singapore: English title) (censored version)
Love Hurts (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence and sensuality, and for drug use and language.

Runtime:

127 min | USA:128 min (unrated version)

Country:

USA | France

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR | LC-Concept Digital Sound (France)

Certification:

Malaysia:(Banned) | Canada:18 (Nova Scotia) (re-rating) (2001) | Canada:R (Nova Scotia) (original rating) | Canada:R (Manitoba/Ontario) (also director's cut) (Canadian Home Video rating) | Singapore:PG (video rating) (heavily cut) | USA:R (#31380) | Singapore:R21 (re-rating) (2007) | Finland:K-16 (video rating) (cut) (1992) | Finland:K-18 (theatrical rating) (1992) | Singapore:R(A) (cut) (1992) | Hungary:18 | India:A | Brazil:18 | Israel:18 (video rating) | Israel:X (original rating) | Philippines:R-18 | Norway:15 (DVD rating) | Canada:16+ (Quebec) (re-rating) (also director's cut) | Argentina:18 | Australia:R | Belgium:KNT | Canada:18+ (Quebec) (also director's cut) (Original rating) | Chile:18 | France:-12 (re-rating) | France:-16 (original rating) | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:III | Ireland:18 | Italy:VM14 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R18 | Norway:18 | Peru:18 | Portugal:M/18 | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:Unrated (director's cut) | Mexico:C | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

1158 Montgomery Street, Telegraph Hill, San Francisco, California, USA

Company:

Carolco Pictures

Trivia:

Nick Curran is based on an adrenaline-junkie Cleveland Police officer that Joe Eszterhas knew when he was a crime reporter with the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: A scene where Nick is at Catherine's to question her about Hazel Dobkins, he is looking through news clippings on himself on the accidental shootings when he was on vice. When Catherine reveals to him she is using him as a reference for the Detective in her novel he comes across a newspaper clipping headlined "Grand Jury Probe Continues" with a his picture in a specific pose to the camera. He displays the same exact (or eerily similar) pose in the next shot when he reacting to this news.

Quotes:

Gus: Everyone that she plays with dies.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Death to the Supermodels (2005) (V)

Soundtrack:

Rave The Rhythm

sleazy, amoral and worryingly entertaining

How does one begin a review of what is arguably the most controversial movie of the 90's? Perhaps I should start by saying that although Basic Instinct is complete trash with nothing residing beneath its glitzy surface(despite the claims of Camille Paglia there are NO subliminal meanings and the phallic symbolism of the ice pick is purely coincidental) it's also a riveting psychological thriller with Doublas and Stone providing an impressive double in a refreshingly gripping film.

I will not go deeply into plot detail, as the story is practically part of hollywood folklore, but in summary volatile cop Nick Curran(Michael Douglas) falls in love with murder suspect Catherine Trammell(Sharon Stone) who may,or may not, have brutally murdered her lover with an ice pick. If the plot sounds familiar its probably due to the fact that Basic Instinct is essentially a combination of writer Joe Eszthera's film 'Jagged Edge' and director Paul Verhoeven's film 'The Fourth Man', both of which had their fair share of sex and fashionable violence. Despite this Basic Instinct still is enjoyable and having seen either of those films will have no affect on the unpredictability of the film.

At the centre of the film is Stone's performance which is actually quite superb(though in the long run this film's been more of a curse than a blessing to her film career)as although she's easily the least probable femme fatale ever to grace(or poison to be more accurate) the silver screen, Stone plays her with such zeal that we can't take our eyes off her. That said it should also be pointed out that she becomes rather less intriguing after the first 40 minutes when she becomes involved with Michael Douglas, as her character loses a great deal of her mystique and her personality has less bite. Then of course is the infamous scene (which practically every other reviewer has mentioned and I am going to be no exception) where Tramell is being interrogated by the police and coolly turns the tables on them by exploiting their libidos and reducing them to drooling idiots, totally ridiculous but easily the film's best scene and certainly one that is not going to be soon forgotten (no doubt to the chagrin of Sharon Stone).

The rest of the cast are fine, with Michael Douglas doing the character he does best(the rather thuggish white male who constantly gets involved with the wrong kind of woman), Jeanne Tripplehorn doing an adequate job as Nick's pyschologist and George Dzunda manages to be the only half-way likable character in the movie as Curran's best(and only)friend. Unfortunately Leilani Sarelle is under-used as Catherine Trammell's enigmatic girlfriend(I forgot to mention Catherine's Bi-sexual).

The film is, of course, not without flaws. No-one (not even the director) could deny that Basic Instinct has such big plot holes you could park a car in them as for some of the events in the film to make sense characters would need to be either clairvoyant or in possession of other-worldly powers. The endings also a bit of a cop out (no I WON'T reveal it) as it was clearly engineered so that it could be easily changed with a single edit if preview audiences were unsatisfied with it.

It is also impossible to ignore the huge controversey that surrounded the films release with a particulair furor being caused by feminists and lesbians over their portrayal in the film. In truth the jury's still out on wether Basic Instinct is homophobic, but I personally don't think it is as the characters' sexuality is never really an issue although in fairness it is used as a somewhat cheap plot device to titillate the audience. The case made by feminists is much stronger as all the women in the film are portrayed as dubious and potentially dangerous. The main defence against all this is that, frankly, all the characters are unpleasent and devious , with perhaps one exception, and no discrimination is given in any way. The other issue was, of course, the sex scenes which ,although explicit, are really rather passé these days.

The film is stylishly filmed, expertly paced, brilliantly directed and has a superb music score from Jerrry Goldsmith. I'll give it a high score(by my standards) of 8 out of 10