It stars Michael Douglas as L.A. Detective Nick Carran, who has a notorious trigger finger caused by cocaine and alcohol abuse. How he still on the police force is beyond me, but Nick is sent to investigate the murder of a rock-and-roll star that was killed by an ice pick while having sex. The police interrogates the last person to see the deceased musician, his girlfriend, the seductive Catherine Tramell, famously played by blond-bombshell Sharon Stone. Tramell is a psychologist and crime novelist who published a book about a rock-and-roll star who is murdered in bed with an ice pick.
That's when the movie takes us to the absurd, as if it wasn't already there. The police don't classify Tramell as the number one suspect because, as she puts it, "I'd have to be pretty stupid to write a book about killing and then kill him the way I described in my book. I'd be announcing myself as the killer. I'm not stupid." Ugh. So, the detectives ultimately decide that the killer is actually someone obsessed with Tramell. Nick is sent to investigate Tramell for clues, and she begins a game of cat and mouse. She declares that he is her new pet project because she's writing a book about a detective who falls in love with the wrong woman and ends up murdered (cue the dramatic music). So, of course, Nick falls for her while trying to treat her like a murder suspect, but his defenses crumble in her hands.
I won't give too much away about the plot, because this is a mystery film that does keep you guessing the whole time, as long as you haven't seen too many crime films. Writer Joe Eszterhas uses many of the genre's tropes and lays out the clues that are easy to find, if you know how to find them. The film is reminiscent of noir stories like Double Indemnity, but while those films featured grey versus gray conflicts of morality, Basic Instinct is a black versus blacker narrative. Nick is amoral cop who clearly cares only about himself and seems to have a death wish, which he gets to satisfy by canoodling with Tramell. She obviously has an unhealthy lifestyle and aspirations, whether she's the killer or not.
The message of the story is truly uninspiring, too. The film preaches that the best sex is violent sex. The sex between Nick and Tramell has an underlying sense of danger because of the possible ice pick that might impale him. Nick describes the sex as the "f*ck of the century," perpetuating a sexual ideal that I think is too evident in our society. There is even a scene featuring a date rape that results in no negative consequences to the rapist, and the raped ultimately shrugs off the incident.
Also, the film is highly homophobic. Tramell is bisexual and is in a lesbian relationship, which makes her girlfriend a suspect. And the fact that Tramell is in this relationship makes her more dangerous, and there is a lurking sense that the film is a conflict between straight men and lesbians. Nick has a discussion with Tramell's girlfriend that concludes with her feeling inadequate, and Nick is seen as the main lover for Tramell. There is another female character that is revealed to have had a lesbian affair in the past, and this past affair also puts her on the suspect list. While Nick and the other heterosexual men in the film aren't widely depicted as being noble citizens, the image of the dangerous, sexual lesbian is a recurring typecast in movie history. (I suggest viewing The Celluloid Closet for further discussion on the history of gay and lesbian representation in cinema.)
Not as socially dangerous as the themes of the film, but still hurtful, is the acting. I've never understood Michael Douglas' appeal, and the film made these feelings even worse. His face is so wooden and cold, but not in a cool, stoic fashion like Clint Eastwood, but more like there isn't much thinking going on behind those furrowed brows. His line reading during the more romantic scenes are truly dull. Stone puts all of her effort into it, and I can tell she is really having fun with her role. Tramell is calculating and manipulative while holding a smile on her face. She did the best she could with the character, which has become a culture icon, thanks to the humorous, vagina-exposing interrogation scene. Tramell is what I classify as scenic emotional character, meaning that the character only displays one emotion throughout the scene. She's sly, sad, surprised, happy, slutty, etc., but only one emotion at a time, which makes for flat characterization.
Basic Instinct does satisfy my presumptions about the film. I expected steamy suspense, but I didn't realized that it was going to be a camp-filled, bloody, sex romp. I should have known better, since this is from the same filmmaker of Showgirls and Starship Trooper, but Basic Instinct takes itself more serious than Verhoeven's other works, and that may be the film's greatest fault.
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