Instinct

Halina Reijn : 2019

Nicoline, an experienced psychologist, starts a new job at a penal institution. She meets Idris, a sex offender who, after five years of treatment for a series of extremely violent sexual assaults, is about to go on his first unaccompanied probation. His team of practitioners are enthusiastic about his development but Nicoline is vehemently opposed, concluding after only a few short meetings that he still poses a great danger to society. Unable to sway her colleagues, she concedes, but also begins to notice her own inability to resist the rush of Idris's manipulation. As her intrigue quickly escalates to infatuation, Nicoline recognises in Idris something unsettled in herself. And where intent is both unimportant and unclear, the two then find themselves face to face in a grippingly quiet yet stomach-churning battle for power and control, in which there can be no true winner. Halina Reijn's feature, her directorial debut, was winner of the Variety Piazza Grande Award when it premiered at Locarno Film Festival 2019. The film received the Cineuropa Prize, Youth Jury Award and the award for Best Actress when it screened in competition at Les Arcs Film Festival 2019.