Mothers' Instinct

Two families collide when a sudden tragedy upends their lives, forcing each woman to reexamine what binds them. Alice Brunelle and Céline Geniot have shared confidences, meals and childrearing hopes, but grief soon pulls at the fabric of their friendship. As secrets surface and loyalties shift, the two households must confront how far they will go to protect the ones they love. The film focuses on the quiet tension that grows after the incident, tracking how anger and suspicion ripple through marriages, parenthood, and the wider circle of friends. What begins as a test of trust becomes a claustrophobic drama about motherhood, guilt, and the cost of staying true when the ground keeps shifting. Its questions linger long after events.

Directed by Olivier Masset-Depasse and released in 2019, the drama draws on the story by Barbara Abel and Giordano Gederlini. Veerle Baetens and Anne Coesens star as the two mothers, with Mehdi Nebbou and Arieh Worthalter as their partners too.

Box office data for this title is not publicly available. The film circulated largely in European markets and festivals, with a limited release strategy that kept commercial figures low while allowing it to reach a devoted, niche audience worldwide now.

No major awards or nominations are documented in the available data for Mothers' Instinct. The film lives in the realm of restrained storytelling and strong performances rather than trophy wins. This absence reflects how some intimate national productions reach audiences primarily through festivals and selective releases in niche festival-focused contexts.

Audience reception appears mixed, with a vote average of 6.324 out of 10 from 156 votes. The film leans into fraught motherhood, trust, and moral ambiguity as two friends confront how tragedy reshapes family loyalties and the boundaries of friendship. The performances give the drama a lean kinetic pulse throughout.