Eileen is a much stranger film than I anticipated, and I’m not entirely sure if it’s for the better or for the worse. It’s the new film from William Oldroyd, following his debut Lady Macbeth back in 2016. Luke Goebel co-writes the script with Ottessa Moshfegh, who also happens to be the author of the 2015 book that this film is adapting. It follows a socially isolated young woman named Eileen (Thomasin McKenzie), who works at a juvenile detention center in a small New England town. Things begin to take a turn in her life when in comes a new chief psychologist, Rebecca (Anne Hathaway).
Rebecca is nothing like Eileen. She’s far more sociable, isn’t afraid to speak and stand up for herself. Her very presence feels like a Golden age Hollywood star. So, to say Eileen becomes somewhat infatuated with her would be putting it mildly. Especially given the fact that Rebecca herself seems to have taken a liking to Eileen, often going to her during downtime at work, opening up to each other about their feelings. What she sees in Eileen that seemingly no one else sees, not even her drunken, jobless father, Jim (Shea Whigham), who berates her quite often. But their connection is put to the test when their friendship takes a dark turn.
What exactly this dark turn entails? Well, that would be a spoiler, and it’s a shame I can’t get too much into it because it really is biggest plot element to speak of, but it comes out of nowhere, completely overtaking the film just past the halfway mark. It’s genuinely baffling to see it play out, not necessarily because it all felt out of character, but just in the sense that it feels the film itself kind of lost itself and its intentions. At that point there was no saying where I could imagine where the film would go because it feels like the channel got switched to another film that’s already in progress.
That isn’t to say it all feels wholly disconnected. There is a throughline in exploring Eileen’s loneliness and her anxieties and insecurities. We sometimes get these darkly comic cutaways to things she would fantasize about, ranging from the relatively innocent like hooking up with a male c0-worker to straight up blowing her brains out. So, everything she is dealing with internally is put to the test in the film’s second half, where she is forced to make a choice and decide whether to take action and regain some control and agency in her life instead of just coasting through life without freeing herself from all these things holding her down.
Thomasin McKenzie is a total pro at playing these kind of awkward loners, but she manages to bring just enough detail to the performance to make each role standout, and this one is no exception. But it’s Anne Hathaway who steals the show right from under everyone. No surprise given the kind of character it is, but she does a fantastic job at making this almost otherworldly presence – at least, in the eyes of Eileen – feel grounded and real. Shea Whigham does solid work, playing a more broad character, but with enough lived in weariness that adds dimension. And Marin Ireland shines in a small but crucial role that plays into the crime element that comes in the back half.
There is certainly a lot to admire about Eileen – the film, not so much the character. However, I am reluctant to say that it comes together as cohesively as it could have, especially given the talent involved. As a character study, it does get you in the headspace of our lead, but it doesn’t let you truly understand her beyond the superficial stuff you can assume based on either context clues or the things blatantly stated out loud. And by the time we get through the major genre shift in the second half, things become even less clear regarding what it’s all trying to say – either about Eileen, about women in the 60s, about women’s relationship with toxic men, about queerness, about loneliness. The craftsmanship is on point, I do like how it tries to evoke a very old fashioned sensibility. But to what end? I am not entirely sure, but at least I can say I was not bored.
Eileen is now out in select theaters.