Basic Instinct

Continuity mistake: In the first scene of the movie Sharon Stone ties Jonny Boz's right hand with her white silk scarf. When we first see his hand it's wide open than in the next shot it's closed only to open as she pulls the knot tightly. (00:03:35)

????

Factual error: The light reflections at Tremell's beach house are not the ones an ocean would make. The reflections are from large flat areas of almost calm water - like in basins - but there are none around.

Jacob La Cour

Character mistake: When Beth encounters Nick after Gus has been murdered, she puts her hand in her pocket and steps forward, prompting Nick to order her to freeze and to take her hand out of her pocket while aiming his gun at her. However, she just keeps reaching for what's in her pocket and approaching Nick, resulting in him shooting her. Considering that she works on the police force, she absolutely should have known for a fact that she was being suspected of reaching for a gun, but thinks nothing of it.

Movielover1996

Other mistake: Beth gives Nick his keys, saying he left his keys at her place, meaning they're his keys, but then she takes them with her, and those were the same keys she had in her pocket when she was shot.

MikeH

Factual error: When Nick is looking up information about Hazel, the computer says she was released from San Quentin. That's a men's only prison.

Character mistake: When we see the door to Elisabeth's, her name is spelled with a s. Later when Nick looks her up on the computer, it's spelled Elizabeth.

Continuity mistake: At the beach house, Catherine is cutting up a large piece of ice with an ice pick. Depending on the direction of the camera, the ice changes size: in one shot it's all together; but in the next shot there's a large chunk pushed to the left of her.

kh1616

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)

????

Continuity mistake: When Nick and Gus are driving Katherine to the police station for the first time, they drive past the same stretch of coast about three times throughout the scene. Most obviously seen by the position of the small island - it jumps from being in the distance, to being even with the car, then behind the car, then in front again etc.

Gus: I thought you said he was a rock and roll star.
Lt. Walker: He was a retired rock and roll star.
Capt. Talcott: A civic-minded, very respectable rock and roll star.
Gus: What's that over there?
Nick: It looks like some civic-minded, very respectable cocaine to me, Gus.

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

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.