Basic Instinct

Continuity mistake: At Sharon Stone's house, Michael Douglas sees her undressing through a large picture window. He has to turn to the left to see the window, but in the close-up of him watching he's not looking to the left but looking straight ahead. (00:44:10)

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Continuity mistake: In his office, Michael Douglas looks up Hazel Dobkins' name on the police computer. Gus Moran comes in to speak to him and the pencils in the pencil holder move between shots without anyone going near them. (00:45:35)

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Continuity mistake: Michael Douglas goes back to Sharon Stone's house where she invites him upstairs as he watches her break up ice cubes with an ice pick. If you look closely at the painting above her fireplace, you can watch the different times of day go by between shots in the reflection of sunlight off of the pool and onto the picture. (00:47:10)

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Continuity mistake: When Michael Douglas goes back to Sharon Stone's house, there's a table with a lamp on it next to a white chair. The table moves back about four inches throughout the scene and the pillow on the chair, the flower centerpiece, and the stuff on the table on the right also move as the scene progresses. (00:50:35)

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Continuity mistake: As she walks into Michael Douglas' apartment, Sharon Stone drapes her jacket over the center of one of his kitchen chairs. Later in the scene she walks over and gets the jacket and it's draped over the left side of the chair. (01:03:20 - 01:04:55)

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Continuity mistake: Back at Michael Douglas' apartment, Sharon Stone uses his ice pick to break up a big hunk of ice for their drinks. In front of her is a tray with various items and loose change in it, with a padlock and a piece of paper to left of it. Everything in the tray and the piece of paper move throughout the scene without anyone going near them. (01:03:55)

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Continuity mistake: At his apartment Michael Douglas takes his sunglasses off and puts them down on the counter where Sharon Stone later breaks up a big hunk of ice for their drinks. The glasses rotate 45 degrees throughout the scene without anyone going near them. (01:04:00)

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Continuity mistake: Before Sharon Stone leaves Michael Douglas' apartment the box on the left against the far wall near his front door is empty. Several shots later when Gus Moran brings him a pizza, the box is full of stuff. (01:05:00)

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Continuity mistake: In their love making scene Sharon Stone leaves Michael Douglas' back all dripping and bloodied with her sharp fingernails. In the next shot she rolls him over onto a pillow but when he gets up there's no blood on the pillowcase. (01:13:20)

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Continuity mistake: Sharon Stone leaves the top of Michael Douglas' back all bloodied with her sharp fingernails. After the lovemaking scene, Roxy talks to him in the bathroom and we see the reflection of his back in the mirror. The scratches on his back are now much lower and not anywhere near the right place. (01:13:25 - 01:16:10)

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Continuity mistake: When Roxy drives Sharon Stone's car off the road it lands on a yellow hose at the bottom of a construction site. When Michael Douglas runs down into the construction site the car is nowhere near the yellow hose. (01:26:10)

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Continuity mistake: Michael Douglas waits in the dark in Jeanne Tripplehorn's apartment and says to her after she walks in, " Tell me about Catherine". At first we see a couch and chair on the right side of the room but two shots later as he walks towards her these two items have been removed from the room. (01:38:40)

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Continuity mistake: At the end of the movie when Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone relax in bed contemplating their future together and the black lamp on the left side of his bed changes the direction that it's pointing in throughout the scene without anyone going near it. (02:01:00)

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Continuity mistake: During the infamous leg un-crossing scene when Sharon Stone is being interrogated, a cigarette in her hand disappears and then reappears.

Continuity mistake: During the big sex scene you see red marks on Michael Douglas's back. These red marks are from when Sharon Stone scratches him. The thing is, she scratches him a minute AFTER you see the red marks on him for the first time.

Continuity mistake: During the interrogation scene, Stone has her legs crossed right over the left then suddenly left over the right and a second later (during the shot where she wears no underwear) right to left again.

Continuity mistake: In the scene where the actual murder takes place the blonde woman stabs him in the neck. The body has no blood on it. The second stab the body is covered with blood. This all happens in one eyeblink.

Continuity mistake: During the infamous leg un-crossing scene when Sharon Stone is being interrogated, a cigarette in her hand disappears and then reappears.

More mistakes in Basic Instinct

Nick: So where is this going?
Catherine: Ask me "What do you want from me Catherine?"
Nick: What the fuck do you want from Catherine?

More quotes from Basic Instinct
More trivia for Basic Instinct

Question: Why did Catherine change her mind about killing Nick at the end? Obviously she was planning on killing him anyway, but she changed her mind only hours after ending their relationship when her book was finished and was of no further use. So why did she spare him? Was it because she fell in "love" with him?

Movielover1996

Answer: There's no definitive answer to this and the ending is deliberately ambiguous and open to interpretation. The audience is left to speculate whether or not Catherine kills Nick, or if she intended to kill him but changes her mind because she loves him, or intends to kill him at a much later time, and so on.

raywest

More questions & answers from Basic Instinct

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