Basic Instinct

Catherine Tramell first appears with an incredulous smirk. Just before her appearance, the two detectives mistake someone else for her. They’ve forfeited their control to her before she’s even shown up. Control is the most valuable asset to a detective. They must assert order over the chaos of the world. Catherine upsets that. She exercises a savviness of the genre as if she knew she was in a noir. She is a writer after all. It’s so obvious she’s guilty because of all her mugging to the camera, but that’s beside the point. The point is, despite all the male gaze, the narrative’s perspective, and slight homophobia, Basic Instinct gives the power to control the story to the femme fatale. It’s a dynamite role for Sharon Stone and a dynamite performance by Sharon Stone. Michael Douglas is pretty good too.