Basic Instinct (film)
"Basic Instinct" is a 1992 neo-noir erotic thriller directed by Paul Verhoeven, featuring Michael Douglas as Detective Nick Curran and Sharon Stone as the enigmatic crime novelist Catherine Tramell. The plot unfolds as Curran investigates the mysterious death of a rock star, which mirrors a crime detailed in one of Tramell's novels. As Curran delves deeper, he finds himself entangled in a web of sexual tension and manipulation, questioning Tramell's guilt while battling his own vices. The film is notable for its provocative themes and controversial depiction of sexuality, particularly in a memorable interrogation scene that sparked significant discussion regarding its portrayal of women and sexuality in cinema.
Stone's performance as the alluring yet dangerous Tramell was pivotal, elevating her career and showcasing a multifaceted character that challenged typical female roles in Hollywood. The film's ambiguous narrative structure keeps audiences guessing about the true nature of its characters until the climax, reflecting on the complexities of desire and manipulation. "Basic Instinct" received mixed reviews but has maintained cultural relevance, even leading to a sequel in 2006. The film's impact on popular culture, particularly its exploration of bisexuality and the portrayal of lesbian relationships, has generated both interest and critique, making it a subject of ongoing analysis in discussions about film and sexuality.
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Subject Terms
Basic Instinct (film)
Director Paul Verhoeven (1938- )
Date Released on March 20, 1992
This film tapped into an audience accustomed to violence and sex and made a star out of Sharon Stone.
In Basic Instinct, Michael Douglas plays detective Nick Curran, whose accidental shooting of two tourists has led to his going cold turkey on his favorite vices—alcohol, drugs, and sex. When he investigates a rock star’s kinky death and finds that it has been described in a novel written by the rock star’s girlfriend, Catherine Tramell, played by Sharon Stone, Curran regards Tramell as his prime suspect. When he interviews her, however, she and he start to use sexual innuendo, and he becomes infatuated with her. The film manipulates its audience as it plays with the probability of her guilt or innocence. Clouding the issue is the presence of Dr. Beth Garner (Jeanne Tripplehorn), the police department’s psychologist, who is Curran’s lover and Tramell’s former university lover, and Roxy (Leilani Sarelle), Tramell’s jealous lesbian girlfriend.
Impact
Basic Instinct capitalized on Douglas’s earlier performance in Fatal Attraction (1987), another film in which his desire for an attractive blond woman led to his possible demise. In Basic Instinct, however, it is Stone who has the greatest impact. In the interrogation scene at police headquarters, Stone’s character, who is not wearing underwear, flashes the two detectives, creating the most discussed sex event in film during the 1990’s. Actually, some of the sex in the original film had to be cut in order to get a rating of R, rather than NC-17. The depiction of Stone and Roxy also provoked much controversy because gay activists criticized Hollywood’s tendency to portray lesbians as twisted and evil. The other controversy in the film involves the manipulation of its audience, since the clues are ambiguous, and Tramell’s guilt or innocence is not revealed until the shocking end. The plot is so designed that either of the two possible endings would be consistent with the information the audience has.
The actor most affected by Basic Instinct was Stone, an intelligent woman whose looks had relegated her to playing blond sexpots. In Basic Instinct, she is sexy, but she is also a manipulative, ambitious, dangerous bisexual woman who seems in control throughout the film. Her role allowed her to vault into the next level of performance and led to better roles in such films as Casino (1995) and Diabolique (1996). In fact, after Basic Instinct, Stone made fifteen more films during the 1990’s. Such was the appeal of the film that in 2006 the sequel Basic Instinct II appeared, with Stone again playing crime novelist Catherine Tramell, and with Michael Glass starring in the Douglas role of a detective obsessed with a possible murderess.
Bibliography
Dugan, Andy. Michael Douglas: Out of the Shadows—The Unauthorized Biography. London: Robson, 2003.
Keesey, Douglas. Paul Verhoeven. Los Angeles: Taschen, 2005.
Munn, Michael. The Sharon Stone Story. London: Robson, 1997.