Basic Instinct (1992)

☆ ☆ ☆

Basic Instinct (1992) – P. Verhoeven

Okay, if you strip away (so to speak) the explicit over-the-top sexual content and the unnecessary characterization of lesbian or bisexual women as murderers, Basic Instinct might actually contain a solid noir-ish plot.  But then this wouldn’t be Paul Verhoeven’s sleazy movie or Joe Eszterhas’s sensationalistic script, I guess.  I skipped this one back in the day and I only watched it now because Jonathan Rosenbaum has it on his 1000 essential films list.  Perhaps he too has also reflected on the noir aspects of the story that might have been filmed in the ‘50s with Dana Andrews or Glenn Ford in the lead as a traumatized cop investigating a suspect who befriends murderers to understand their psychology in order to incorporate it into characters in her novels.  (Let’s set aside how badly psychology is misunderstood on screen – it’s a time honoured tradition).  Sure, the sexual tension would still be present (if not explicit, and perhaps more tense for that reason) and the cop and other characters (internal affairs cop, police department psychologist) could still have more or less the same relationships.  Michael Douglas isn’t right for the part – he seems too phony at times (even Mickey Rourke might have pulled it off better) -- but I’m happy just to reimagine the film as directed by Fritz Lang or Joseph H. Lewis and to forget about all the tawdry bits.