Instinct
Film poster
Directed by	Halina Reijn
Written by	Esther Gerristen Halina Reijn
Produced by	Frans Van Gestel Arnold Heslenfeld Laurette Schillings
Starring	Carice van Houten Marwan Kenzari
Edited by	Job Ter Burg
Music by	Ella Van Der Woude
Production companies	Topkapi Films BNNVARA Man Up Film
Distributed by	A24
Release dates	12 August 2019 (2019-08-12) (Locarno) 3 October 2019 (2019-10-03) (Netherlands)
Running time	94 minutes
Country	Netherlands
Language	Dutch

Instinct is a 2019 Dutch drama film directed by Halina Reijn.^[1] It was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival.^[2] It was selected as the Dutch entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.^[3]

Plot

A prison therapist becomes obsessed with her charismatic patient, a violent serial rapist on the verge of being paroled.

Cast

• Carice van Houten as Nicoline
• Marwan Kenzari as Idris
• Marie-Mae van Zuilen as Marieke
• Pieter Embrechts as Alex
• Ariane Schluter as Directrice

Release

Instinct premiered at the 72nd Locarno Film Festival. A24 acquired the rights to the film in 2022.^[4]

Reception

Instinct has an approval rating of 80% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 15 reviews, and an average rating of 7.4/10.^[5] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 66 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "generally favourable reviews".^[6]