H
This is an unusual psychological thriller, co-written by Luke Goebel and Ottessa Moshfegh, based on Moshfegh’s Booker Prize-nominated novel of the same title, and directed by William Oldroyd. The film is performed and portrayed with a strangely serious tone, almost like a somber remake of a forgotten John Waters cult classic. A GIF-worthy scene involves Anne Hathaway’s character struggling with what appears to be a fake cat, tossing it out the front door accompanied by a loud yowl on the soundtrack.
The story takes place in a small town in Massachusetts during the 1960s. Thomasin McKenzie portrays Eileen, a shy and suppressed young woman who works as a filing assistant at a juvenile prison. She also takes care of her alcoholic father, Jim (played by Shea Whigham), who is a former police officer and often gets drunk, threatens their neighbors with his gun, and humiliates Eileen. Eileen often daydreams about sex, violent revenge, and self-harm, which are initially shocking but become awkward and detract from the impact of a plot twist later on.
Eileen is inexplicably delighted by the arrival of the new consultant psychologist at the jail, Dr Rebecca Saint John (Hathaway). Rebecca is a fashionable and educated woman from Harvard, with progressive beliefs and dyed blonde hair. She invites shy Eileen to have cocktails with her, seemingly entertained by the potential for Eileen to flourish under her mentorship. Just as the film appears to be mirroring Todd Haynes’s adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel Carol, with Hathaway playing the role of Cate Blanchett and McKenzie playing the submissive Rooney Mara, a bizarre and dramatic turn of events occurs.
The movie has some standout scenes, particularly when the strict prison warden Mrs. Murray (played by Siobhan Fallon Hogan) makes the rebellious young inmates watch a religious Christmas pageant called “Christmas in Prison” for their moral improvement. This scene is meant to be comical, but I’m uncertain about the rest of the film’s intentions. Anne Hathaway and Thomasin McKenzie deliver intense and captivating performances, but the overall film is unsatisfying and anticlimactic.
Source: theguardian.com
