Eileen – A Twisty Yet Cold Psychological Thriller

In 2016, theater director William Oldroyd made his feature debut with the highly underrated Lady Macbeth, a film that introduced the world to Florence Pugh. In the years since, he’s gone on to do some notable things. Seven years later, he is back with his sophomore feature Eileen, a twisty psychological thriller/character study based on the 2015 novel of the same name by Ottessa Moshfegh. Set in 1960’s Massachusetts, an unhappy prison guard named Eileen (McKenzie) becomes beguiled by her new co-worker Rebecca (Hathaway). After becoming friends, things soon take a sinister turn that surpasses her wildest imagination. A difficult film to talk about without giving anything away, it evolves wildly from beginning to end. While far from what one would call a conventional thriller and will admittedly be too cold and distant for some audiences, those who come to appreciate its slow burn story and its many surprises along the way will likely walk away really appreciating what Oldroyd has accomplished here.

Eileen is a great character and Oldroyd immediately gets audiences to feel for her right away. She’s quiet, insecure, unloved, and essentially all alone within a cruel world. Eileen is easy to sympathize with and many will likely relate to the issues she faced as they informed her actions and the tough choices she would have to later make. Casting McKenzie as Eileen is nothing short of genius for how she has played similar roles to perfection and here, she delivers some of her finest work as a performer to date. One can’t help but instantly feel for her, and want her to come out of the situation she would find herself in okay, despite not always agreeing with the choices she makes. While McKenzie is the glue that holds the film together, Hathaway chews up every second of screen time she is given as Rebecca to the point that she nearly steals the show away from her. Rebecca is very much a supporting player in Eileen’s story rather than a co-lead like many may expect, yet Hathaway remains just as vital to the story and shares strong chemistry with McKenzie. Delivering a fearless performance, Rebecca feels like she was pulled off the set of a classic 1940’s film.

Starting off as a lesser version of 2015’s Carol, the film then takes a sharp turn and becomes something much different and a lot darker. That third act is ultimately where most of its problems lie. Successfully pulling off a sharp tonal shift, everything after is pretty underwhelming with a cold ending serving as a culmination of its those problems. While noble, the new direction doesn’t do nearly enough, resulting with the film ending on a very anticlimactic and abrupt note. Though an enjoyable journey, its final destination will have a lot of audiences wondering the point of it all was and what it was going for. The ending may not work, however, it’s a bold swing that don’t often happen in these types of films.

On the technical side of things, Oldroyd does a great job at capturing the story’s 1960’s setting and truly brings it to life through old fashioned sets, automobiles, and locations and enveloping it in such a cold atmosphere that it will at times get under one’s skin as it slowly builds a sense of unease that only grows as the film progresses. Meanwhile, Ari Wagner’s dreamlike cinematography is stunning to look at as she does a remarkably good job at creating a shot on film look in spite of it really being shot digitally. Richard Reed Parry’s score is another highlight.

In the end, Eileen comes close to being a genuinely great film but its third act and ending hold it back from ever quite reaching those heights. That being said, a pair of excellent performances from Thomasin McKenize and Anne Hathaway, William Oldroyd’s great atmospheric direction, and its dreamy period setting earn it a recommendation even if it may not exactly be everyone’s cup of tea.

still courtesy of Elevation Pictures

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Connor Carey

www.connorsmoviereviews.com/