A small-town secretary develops a dangerous obsession in this adaptation of the acclaimed Ottessa Moshfegh novel.
Novelist Ottessa Moshfegh is known for her willingness — eagerness, even — to explore the messier regions of the female psyche. Director William Oldroyd made his name with Lady Macbeth, a film about a woman who isn't afraid to embrace chaos in a repressive era.
So the two of them seem like the perfect team for the adaptation of Moshfegh's 2015 debut Eileen; the author cowrote the script with her husband, Luke Goebel. The film premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival and is playing at Merrill's Roxy Cinemas in Burlington.
The deal
In December 1964, Eileen Dunlop (Thomasin McKenzie) works as a secretary in a juvenile detention facility on a bleak stretch of the Massachusetts coast. At 24, she's never had an opportunity to spread her wings; since her mother's death, she's been the caretaker of her ex-cop father (Shea Whigham), who suffers from alcoholism and is prone to waving his gun in fits of paranoia.
Equally dutiful and resentful, Eileen supplies her dad with booze, then hides his shoes to make it harder for him to terrorize the neighborhood. In return, he insults her. The only respites in her day are her sexual fantasies, which center on the best-looking guard at her workplace.
Then a new psychiatrist joins the staff — Rebecca (Anne Hathaway), who floors everyone with her Ivy League credentials and movie star glamour. Smitten, Eileen tries to impress Rebecca with her own unconventionality ("I don't like things that are popular," she practically whispers), and they become friends. But Rebecca has also grown dangerously close to one of the young inmates, notorious for his brutal crime. When Eileen accepts Rebecca's invitation to holiday cocktails, the situation evolves in ways she never expected.
Will you like it?
If you haven't read the book Eileen, you need to know that this is no gentle throwback that portrays the past as a simpler time. Eileen may look demure, but beneath her frumpy cardigans beats a heart full of unruly desires. When we meet her, she's parked at the local lovers' lane, masturbating as she watches a couple hook up from a distance.
Even today, many writers observe a decorum when writing about female characters that Moshfegh has no use for. There's nothing sweet or cute about Eileen's feelings, sexual or otherwise. Trapped in postadolescent frustration, she's self-destructive and sometimes downright gross. The movie omits the book's digression on her use of laxatives. But there is a scene in which, after meeting Rebecca for drinks at the local dive, Eileen returns to the bar and proceeds to get smashed and very sick all by herself.
Why? McKenzie conveys so much with her silence that we don't need the novel's first-person narration to interpret Eileen's behavior. Her binge is the celebration of a successful first date. But it's also a release valve for the intense stress involved in impersonating the sort of effortlessly sophisticated woman she thinks Rebecca is (wrongly, as it turns out).
I've been waiting to see McKenzie in a role this substantial since 2018, when she earned plaudits as an unhoused teen in Leave No Trace. She's one of those chameleon actors who can be stunning or plain, mousy or formidable, depending on the character. Her star turn in 2021's Last Night in Soho allowed her to play both sides of those dualities, but not as fully as Eileen does.
Primarily a character study, Moshfegh's novel shifts about two-thirds of the way through into thriller mode. The last third is gritty and gripping, reminiscent of Patricia Highsmith. But the climax isn't entirely satisfying, because it makes Eileen something of a passenger in Rebecca's life, which is careening out of control.
Hathaway plays Rebecca with a delicious dash of camp, rocking a Marilyn Monroe hairdo and making purring pronouncements such as "Smoking is a nasty habit. That's why I like it." She's fun to watch — the cover of a vintage pulp come to life. In the movie as in the book, however, we never get too far under Rebecca's glossy, deceptive surface. As a result, Eileen's resolution is more lurid than genuinely affecting, although the script makes one key change to give Eileen greater agency in the outcome.
When the dust settles, we're left with a sordid little yarn that sneakily satirizes the three models of femininity on offer in midcentury America: virgin, vamp and virtuous wife. (Marin Ireland plays the third archetype in a brief but indelibly disturbing turn.) We expect Eileen to be about coming of age, but it's actually more about coming into one's rage, accepting it as a building block of one's being — no matter who gets hurt. It's the perfect film for Hallmark haters, though even they might need a more hopeful Christmastime period piece — The Holdovers, say — as a palate cleanser.
If you like this, try...
Lady Macbeth (2016; Hoopla, Kanopy, Tubi, rentable): Oldroyd gave Florence Pugh her breakout role with this literary adaptation about a young woman in Victorian England who's trapped in a loveless marriage.
Carol (2015; Netflix, rentable): If you want to see a neo-noir period piece that more fully realizes the sapphic aspect of its central relationship, try Todd Haynes' gorgeous adaptation of Highsmith's novel The Price of Salt. A happy Hallmark romp it is not, but it does have the holiday setting!
The Killer Inside Me (2010; AMC+, Pluto TV, Tubi, rentable): For another re-creation of gritty midcentury noir, try Michael Winterbottom's adaptation of Jim Thompson's dark classic about a sheriff who's also a serial killer.
The original print version of this article was headlined "Eileen 4"
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In addition to The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, here's what is playing in Northern and Central Vermont movie theaters this week. Listings include new movies, vintage films and a directory of open theaters.
In addition to La Chimera, here's what is playing in Northern and Central Vermont movie theaters this week. Listings include new movies, vintage films and a directory of open theaters.
Bio:
Margot Harrison is the Associate Editor at Seven Days; she coordinates literary and film coverage. In 2005, she won the John D. Donoghue award for arts criticism from the Vermont Press Association.
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