There is a thin line between erotica and porn, and Basic Instinct(1992) is a film that walks that thin line. It is worth watching for all thriller buffs. And I would absolutely recommend it for those who enjoy erotic thrillers. In fact, unless one is too queasy about depiction of sexuality on screen, one should not miss this cult classic.
Basic Instinct is deservingly celebrated for the intrigue and eroticism. Directed by Paul Verhoeven, it is based on a script by Joe Eszterhas. It boasts of an excellent cinematography by Jan de Bont, and music by Jerry Goldsmith. The cast includes Michael Douglas, Sharon Stone, Jeanne Tripplehorn, George Dzundza, Stephen Tobolowsky and Bill Cable.
Former rock star and San Francisco nightclub owner Johnny Boz(Bill Cable) is found murdered in his bed. Detective Nick Curran (played by Michael Douglas) is assigned to the case; he has a history of alcoholism and drug abuse although he is clean now. The prime suspect is Catherine Tramell(Sharon Stone), an attractive and manipulative novelist who had been seeing Boz for a while. Police psychiatrist Beth Gardner(who happens to be Nick’s ex-girlfriend) is brought in on the case when it is discovered that Boz’s murder was copied directly from one of Catherine’s novels. Nick starts to get too involved and everyone seems to be a suspect.
This cold, stylish erotic-thriller grossed over$100 million at the box-office despite vigorous protests at its depiction of gays and women. The shocking opening sequence features a graphic sexual encounter involving a rock-star bound with a white Hermes scraf by an unidentified blond woman. Despite the fact that the scene ends with a bloody icepick murder(horrifyingly realized by makeup artist Rob Bottin), Hermes scarves reportedly enjoyed a craze in America where they quickly sold out at stores! This seeming paradox is at the heart of the film’s appeal, as it mixes perverse sexuality and erotic bloodshed in a manner common to European thrillers(director Paul Verhoeven had done it himself in his 1979 film) but mostly taboo in mainsteam films in countries around the world, including the US.
The plot hinges on Catherine Tramell, a successful bisexual mystery writer. Everyone close to Catherine dies, and troubled policeman Nick Curran must find out why. In the process, Nick becomes sexually involved with both Catherine and police psychiatrist Beth Garner(Jeanne Tripplehorn), while the bodies begin piling up and Catherine turns the cat-and-mouse game around on Nick.
The film’s most notorious scene, a police interrogation in which Catherine makes drooling idiots out of her captors by revealing that she is not wearing underwear, became a cultural touchstone and was widely imitated and parodied. Sharon Stone, meanwhile, was embarrassed to the point that she claimed Verhoeven had aimed lights on strategic locations without her knowledge.
The ending of the film(Warning: Spoiler Ahead! Stop reading if you are yet to see the movie) is particularly interesting. In a classic twsiter of a climax, we find out that the detective’s girlfriend had an unhealthy obsession with Sharon Stone’s character, however, it turns out that Sharon Stone’s character is actually the murderer. as the last shot is the ice pick under her bed.
Unlike this film, its sequel made in 2006 by Michael Caton-Jones, is horribly campy and is best summed up as avoidable trash.