Like - The Basic Instinct Club Scene

Club scenes present a unique challenge to filmmakers. Everyone has a good idea of what a club scene should be but they are rarely done well. In fact, they are almost always done poorly. That makes sense. Clubs are everything film sets aren’t. They’re unfocused, loud and chaotic. They rely on a natural energy that can be shaped by the environment but must ultimately flow from the crowd. A bunch of extras gyrating their bodies in a weirdly lit room isn’t what being in a club feels like even if it might be described that way. Likewise, the soundtracks for club scenes are never quite what they want to be. It’s usually music that sounds like someone’s idea of what club music sounds like. Then you have the Basic Instinct club scene. 🥵. I love this movie. As with all Paul Verhoeven films, they’re not quite what they seem. In Basic Instinct, the characters are cyphers more they’re actual people with real emotions. They’re stand-ins for two different kinds of cultural figures: the beautiful femme fatale and the handsome everyman. Glorified female beauty vs. regular hunk. At this point in the movie, Michael Douglas is deep into his investigation of Sharon Stone for murder. He knows she’s the killer but he’s falling for her against his and everyone else’s better judgment. He can’t keep away from the hot stove and neither can she. And so he goes to meet her at a club, which is in a completely ridiculous and also amazing church like building with neon arch ways. It’s the kind of high minded club that used to exist. Then the scene starts. She’s with a woman. He’s all alone. They make eye contact and it’s on. The generic club music fades for LaTour’s Blue, and the song starts to build. I don’t know if Blue is actually a great electronic track but you feel like you’re on drugs when you listen to it. That’s perfect because next we head to the dance floor where we get to see their outfits. Sharon Stone is wearing a slinky, sexy dress which is to be expected. Michael Douglas on the other hand looks like a fish out of water wearing jeans and a v-neck sweater that doesn’t seem to have a shirt beneath it. It’s an insane look for anytime, and particularly one to wear out on the middle of a dance floor in a hot sweaty club. But he isn’t there to dance, which he doesn’t even attempt to do. He’s there to pursue Sharon Stone. So he approaches her, stares hard and get her attention with his extremely self-confident and normal masculinity, which walks the not-so-fine line of human desire and animal instinct. As a femme fatale recognizing a worth opponent, Sharon Stone is attracted to his power like a moth to a light. The tension builds until they’re grinding, grabbing and making out in a room full of people, right in front of everyone. Throughout the scene, LaTour’s Blue only gives way to a single moan as it otherwise sustains the euphoria. The camera then floats away and it’s over. It’s an exhilarating watch and it works so well because while it all takes place in a club, it doesn’t exist in one. The scene transpires between the two characters whose energies feel like something we want to believe can happen in certain kinds of clubs and that makes all the difference.