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.
Basic Instinct (1992)
Plot summary
Directed by: Paul Verhoeven
Starring: Michael Douglas, Sharon Stone, Jeanne Tripplehorn, George Dzundza
Former rock star and San Francisco nightclub owner Johnny Boz is found murdered in his bed. Detective Nick Curran (Michael Douglas) is assigned to the case; he has a history of alcoholism and drug abuse although he is clean now. The prime suspect is Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone), an attractive and manipulative novelist who had been seeing Boz for a while. Police psychiatrist Beth Gardner (who happens to be Nick's ex-girlfriend) is brought in on the case when it is discovered that Boz's murder was copied directly from one of Catherine's novels. Nick starts to get too involved and everyone seems to be a suspect.
More mistakes in Basic Instinct
Beth Garner: Something's going on. You're sleeping with her, aren't you?
Nick: Why are you interested in her?
Beth Garner: My interest is in you, not her. She seduces and manipulates people. She'll do anything she can.
Nick: I thought you hardly knew her?
Beth Garner: I know the type. I'm a psychologist.
Nick: That means... you manipulate people too! You're a practicing psychologist. You're better at it than she is.
Trivia: Before Sharon Stone was cast as Catherine, Michelle Pfeiffer, Julia Roberts, Kim Basinger, Kelly McGillis, Greta Scacchi, Emma Thompson and Mariel Hemingway all turned down the role.
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?
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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 ★