https://www.news-gazette.com/arts-entertainment/film-television/the-screening-room-atmosphere-acting-elevate-eileen/article_5a395fef-0cf7-5547-9080-3e4ba057df93.html
In theaters now, and appropriately so given its Xmas setting, as captured in the IMDB review (below, 8/10). Both reviews suggest that the film's third act is at the least dangerously close to going off the rails, but the common thread of those who find value in the film is its development of atmosphere, which seems to the hallmark of British director William Oldroyd.
Christmas noir
drownsoda9 08 December 2023
"Eileen" focuses on the titular lead character (Thomasin McKenzie), a young woman in 1960s Massachusetts. Her life is less than ideal: she is sexually repressed, professionally stifled in her job as an administrative worker in a young men's prison, and has to deal with her widowed and neurotic alcoholic father (Shea Whigham) at home. Eileen's downbeat existence is upheaved, however, by the arrival of Rebecca (Anne Hathaway), a glamorous and charismatic psychiatrist who is hired at the prison. The two women's encounters with one another eventually lead down a dark path.
Based on the novel of the same name by Ottessa Moshfegh (who co-wrote the screenplay), "Eileen" is immediately striking simply on a visual level, as every frame of it is steeped in atmosphere. The film is bathed in a wave of rusty sepias and cool blues, the only real color popping up in the form of Christmas lights or Thomasin Mackenzie's bright red lipstick. The time period and place in which it is set (1960s New England) is also demonstrated impeccably. This works greatly to the film's advantage, given that its narrative arc is quite sparsely drawn (and I don't mean that as a demerit)--simply that the story is lean and succinct.
The first two acts largely work to establish Eileen's loneliness and depressing interpersonal dynamics with her father, with Hathaway's character jutting in and unknowingly shaking up Eileen's humdrum routine. It is at times difficult to discern where the story is exactly going; there are hints of a budding lesbian love affair, though the character perspectives and their foggy motives more or less put the brakes on this avenue (at least for one of them). There is a dark twist in the last act that feels somewhat arbitrary, though it functions in terms of driving the timid Eileen to take drastic actions for once in her life (for better or for worse). If nothing else, the climax of the film is disturbing.
While I feel that the film comes across as slightly irresolute in terms of character motives and their relationship to the events that transpire in the climax, what makes it all ultimately work is the well-written dialogue paired with McKenzie and Hathaway's performances. McKenzie excels in her portrayal of the emotionally downtrodden protagonist, while Hathaway goes full-throttle (bordering on camp) as the Harvard-educated, freewheeling Rebecca, a woman with her own unnamed demons. Shea Whigham also gives a memorable performance as Eileen's alcoholic ex-cop father.
While I think the screenplay leaves behind a few loose ends in the wake of arbitrary events and decisions, I suppose it is also worth noting that these loose ends, arbitrary events, and decisions are also sometimes demonstrative of life itself. The film effectively depicts just how the chemistry between two humans can quickly spiral into a grim and dangerous place, with neither party foreseeing it. The fact that it is visually stunning and robustly acted make it worth viewing. 8/10.
For a review with major spoilers about the film's ending:
https://www.slashfilm.com/1465809/eileen-ending-explained/
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