SNEAK PEEKS

Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain Look Like Betty Draper 2.0 in Mothers’ Instinct

by Steph Eckardt

Anne Hathaway helping a boy into a car on the set of Mother's Instinct
Photo by Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC via Getty Images

We now know why Anne Hathaway left her first-ever Cannes Film Festival early. The 39-year-old Academy Award winner had a prior commitment in a place far from the south of France both literally and figuratively: suburban New Jersey. On Thursday, she resurfaced on the set of her upcoming film Mothers’ Instinct looking like a brunette Betty Draper, channeling the same 1960s style as her costar, Jessica Chastain. If you’re into Mad Men-era fashion, from the look of the paparazzi photos, this is the movie for you.

An English-language remake of Olivier Masset-Depasse’s Belgian film Duelles, (2018), Mother’s Instinct stars Hathaway and Chastain as two best friends and neighbors named Celine and Alice. Everything is perfect in the suburban paradise they call home, from their manicured lawns to their relationships with their successful husbands to their children. (Their boys are conveniently in the same grade.) And then, one fateful day, tragedy strikes. You can’t tell from the idyllic scenes we’ve seen so far, but the story is actually a psychological thriller. “Guilt, suspicion, and paranoia bleed into their friendship,” the official synopsis teases, “as a psychological battle of wills gives way to a darker side of the maternal instinct.”

Jessica Chastain is seen on the set of Mother’s Instinct in Union County, New Jersey on May 26, 2022.

Photo by Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC via Getty Images

Anne Hathaway is seen on the set of Mother’s Instinct in Union County, New Jersey on May 26, 2022.

Photo by Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC via Getty Images

Anne Hathaway is seen on the set of Mother’s Instinct in Union County, New Jersey on May 26, 2022.

Photo by Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC via Getty Images

So, what is the tragedy in question? Since there’s a good chance you’ll forget by the time the film comes out—the release date remains unknown—you can spoil it for yourself by reading a review of Masset-Depasse’s acclaimed Belgian version of the film here. Thankfully, there will likely be plenty more paparazzi photos to tide us over: They’re just two days into being on set.

Jessica Chastain is seen on the set of Mother’s Instinct in Union County, New Jersey on May 26, 2022.

Photo by Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC via Getty Images

Anne Hathaway is seen on the set of Mother’s Instinct in Union County, New Jersey on May 26, 2022.

Photo by Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC via Getty Images