Instinct (2019)

Instinct is special because it turns a familiar prison-thriller setup into something far more intimate and unsettling: a careful study of how desire, authority, and self-deception can blur into one dangerous fog. Halina Reijn directs with a disciplined, almost clinical calm, letting tension build in glances, pauses, and the quiet war of words rather than cheap shocks. Carice van Houten gives a fiercely nuanced performance as a professional who prides herself on insight, only to find her certainty eroding, while Marwan Kenzari’s charm is so controlled and intelligent you can feel the room tilt when he speaks. This isn’t a cozy mystery and it won’t be for everyone given its psychologically charged sexual dynamics, but if you like thrillers that get under your skin by making you question who’s really in control, it’s hard to shake.

Instinct is aiming for a tense, psychologically messy power game between a prison therapist and a charming offender, with the director clearly trying to probe obsession, denial, and how easily “professional distance” can rot from the inside. The problem is that the film’s provocation can feel more like a dare than a clear-headed exploration, and the writing sometimes steers into familiar erotic-thriller beats that make the outcome feel less unsettlingly inevitable and more simply predictable. If you’re hoping for a tight mystery or a grounded procedural about risk assessment and rehabilitation, this likely won’t satisfy—you’re mostly watching one person spiral while the movie flirts with sensationalism. Still, Carice van Houten and Marwan Kenzari bring enough intensity and charisma to keep it watchable, as long as you’re comfortable with uncomfortable material and a deliberately rough, ambiguous tone.