Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain are in their Desperate Housewives era. And the result – new film Mothers' Instinct – is electric, dark and thought-provoking.
Set in the 1960s, the movie follows the seemingly picture-perfect lives of two women who live next door to each other in an idyllic suburb with their families. However, all isn't as tranquil as it seems, as sinister emotions lie just beneath the surface.
When tragedy hits both families, Celine (Hathaway) and Alice (Chastain) feel their friendship being tested as their lives, particularly their senses of self and motherhood, begin to unravel.
Louder for the people in the back!
The actors' close friendship offscreen – they bonded 10 years ago on the set of Christopher Nolan epic Interstellar – helped them to navigate tensions onscreen, while fostering an all-important atmosphere of female solidarity.
This could not be more important, seeing as beyond the psychological thriller story, Mothers' Instinct also brings to light the horrors that could be unleashed on women's bodily autonomy, fertility choices and mental health in the 1960s, without their consent.
Anne and Jessica sat down with GLAMOUR to talk through these tough battles, and how we as women are still fighting some of them sixty years later.
So you guys have a longstanding friendship – what new things did you learn about each other through working together on set? And how did it affect your friendship?
JC: It was amazing to work together on set because I really felt like I had someone I could trust. Making a film in 24 days is not an easy thing to do, especially a period piece – we had to really throw ourselves in as deeply as we could. Someone like Annie, who is a phenomenal actress and producer, not only is she giving us a beautiful performance, but she's able to keep the wheels on the cart and see the finish line.
To know that I could link arms with someone – even in the very last scene we did have to be quite physical – even in those violent moments, it’s about knowing that we can let ourselves go and just play it as real as we possibly could without hurting each other. And be safe. In that scenario, it was incredibly important to me.
AH: You took the words right out of my mouth, I felt so safe. And it's really something to feel safe enough to be ugly, it’s something to feel safe enough to be violent towards someone, and know that they are somehow looking at you with hatred, but also with complete and total support.
I tend to say, it's funny to be a fan of a friend. And when we hang out, like we're just friends, yeah, normal. And then I see Jessica out there in the world, killing it. And the thing that I haven't gotten to see is my friend on set killing it. And I just have to say, she is the most amazing leader. She's the sort of person you absolutely want to have in charge, she should rule the world. It would be a much better world! [Working with her] was just truly an artistic honour, a human honour… And yeah, Jess for President!
Maternal instinct and motherhood is explored very deeply throughout the film. How did you instil your own experiences of motherhood into it? And how has motherhood changed you?
JC: For my character, really, it was an exploration not only in motherhood, but of anxiety. When we meet her, we realise she's been committed before. She faces a lot of restrictions and pushback against the woman she longs to be, and I feel quite different in my life. So it was more about trying to connect to something outside of myself.
AH: You always want to keep yourself and your experience removed, just because you're dealing with the subject matter that's so painful. But it just underscored my deeply held belief that mental health is everything – and mental health support is so important.
One of the things that broke my character's heart was how stigmatised she was in her grief, and that stigma isolated her and just made everything worse. Something that I think the movie does do a good job of is showing that – especially during this time – women were so isolated, and they had such prescribed identities that were based on outside notions of gender. And that's really, really toxic.
Female solidarity is certainly explored and tested throughout this film – when have you leant on female solidarity most in real life to help champion yourself?
JC: I lean on Annie all the time. I leaned on her while we were shooting this. I leaned on her, as a mother, as a wife, as a human being, walking through this world navigating the waters of Hollywood as a woman. And I don't know what I would have done had I not had incredible women in my life to lean on. It’s everything to me. It's so vastly important.
AH: It’s everything. It’s the way we should be. I just feel like we’re at our best when we’re collaborators and when we’re sharing and learning from each other. Just a few months ago I called Jess because I needed advice on a very specific thing and I went through all my friends [thinking] who was going to actually help me out the most and I was like: Jess. She had so much going on. [To Jessica] You were in the middle of like seven press tours, you were on set, doing all these things…
JC: I was walking through an airport!
AH: And you took the call. I was on my way into something that I didn’t feel ready for – and you just talked me through how it was going to go and gave me exactly what I needed. I was so grateful, and it went well. So yes, I'm literally sitting next to the person, the woman that I lean on, in times when I don't feel like I'm going to learn how to swim, I feel like I'm going to pull up short. Absolutely, I call and she lends me some of her considerable strength.
Anne, your character touches on her fertility issues really beautifully in the film. Obviously it's set in the 1960s, but 60 years on, women's fertility and bodily autonomy is still being challenged through moments like the repealing of Roe vs Wade and other legislation like it across the world. How important do you think conversations around such issues on screen are, in light of this?
AH: Well, thank you so much for bringing that up. It was so important to me. My character's backstory is based on a real story that I read about that happened to someone where she was put into a “twilight state” to give birth. And when she woke up, they had removed her uterus. She’d had a hysterectomy. Excuse me if I'm not getting all the medical terms right, I get a little upset about it. I remember thinking that that was such a violating act. She's a very famous woman, and so she kind of went on and had this whole life after that.
I just remember thinking if that was at the core of my character… the rage that would be underneath this really pretty surface. And that would be so much of what was fuelling her and so much of what she was pushing down, insisting how happy she was. And on some level, she would be happy. But there's actually more to the story than that.
I think that when we live in a society that does not respect people's bodily autonomy, we are going to continue to see acts of violence. We cannot keep doing this, we cannot keep going backwards. And I understand that people have complicated feelings, and that there's a whole spectrum of belief – I don't want to be disrespectful of that. But we do also have to make decisions that include the most people and that offer the most health services for people and offer the most freedom. And for me, that is making sure that everybody has access to choice.
Jessica, your character grapples with her mental health throughout the film – how do you look after your own mental health?
JC: Well, because I have the privilege of not having the men in my life decide whether or not I need to be committed – unlike Alice. You know, in the 1960s fathers and husbands could commit their daughters and wives without their choice.
I think how I really look after myself is understanding when I need time, right now, to sit in silence. Because the world is so big, and it's so beautiful, and there's so much going on. And we have so many sides of ourselves that we give to others – as a mother, as a partner, as a collaborator and friend. And sometimes we – I – forget to sit in silence and really listen to ourselves and ask what I feel like I want in this moment. That really helps.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
Mothers’ Instinct is in cinemas from 27 March.
