At a brisk 1 hour and thirty minutes runtime, there are times when Eileen lacks space and time to fully embrace its darkness, but this delightfully twisted Christmas tale still manages to leave an indelible mark as the credits roll. Eileen is now showing in cinemas nationwide.
A sense of unease permeates William Oldroyd’s adaptation of Ottessa Moshfegh’s novel, Eileen. The snowbound Massachusetts town where young Eileen works and lives is a place of secrets as deep as the snow on the ground; everyone knows it, but no one digs, for fear of what they might find. Eileen, played brilliantly by Thomasin McKenzie, is a young secretary at a local youth detention centre; there, she silently and secretly gazes upon the young inmates and the guards, creating sexual scenarios in her mind. Eileen is desperate for the touch of a stranger, yet she is also unsure and uncertain of her bubbling sexual desires.
At home, her relationship with her alcoholic, ex-police chief father (Shea Whigham) is volatile and cruel, as he tears Eileen down at every opportunity while remaining reliant on her care. When the beautiful and refined prison psychologist Rebecca St John (Anne Hathaway) arrives at the detention centre, disrupting and challenging the male-dominated world of the establishment, Eileen is enthralled. And when Rebecca takes Eileen out for a night of martinis and dancing in the town’s only bar, Eileen’s potential sexual interest turns to obsession. Rebecca knows she has Eileen under her spell, but what comes next will change Eileen’s life forever as Rebecca St John, unlike the locals, begins to dig into the secrets buried in the snow of a town built on silence.
Oldroyd delights in building unease and tension before delivering a deliciously dark twist in this tale of repression, sexuality, and secrets. Here, the performances of McKenzie and Hathaway are enticing, complex and obscure as one finds a voice and a burning sexuality long since buried, while the other uncovers the darkness of a town drowning in secrets and lies. Many will draw comparisons with Todd Haynes’ Carol (2015), but Eileen has far more in common with Hitchcock’s Rebecca (1940), Rope (1948) and Notorious (1946); there’s even a nod to Psycho (1960) as it twists and turns towards an ending that will leave you screaming for more.
At a brisk 1 hour and thirty minutes runtime, there are times when Eileen lacks space and time to fully embrace its darkness, but this delightfully twisted Christmas tale still manages to leave an indelible mark as the credits roll.
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