Much of William Oldroyd's translation of Ottessa Moshfegh's 2015 novel Eileen has a sickening, nicotine-yellow tint. It's evident in this clean, self-assured movie's colour grading and costumes, giving it a sense of illness right away. Everyone in the film's snow-covered Massachusetts town appears nervous, numbed by the cold, and stifled by routine, but none more so than Eileen (Thomasin McKenzie), a young secretary at a juvenile prison who remains glum throughout her shifts, even when she surreptitiously observes the other inmates.
When Rebecca St. John (Anne Hathaway), with her chic accent and immaculately styled blonde bob, pulls up in her shining scarlet automobile, a bolt of red breaks through the oppressive mood. She takes Eileen out for dancing and martinis as the new prison psychiatrist, breaking rules and curing her illness. Rebecca tells Eileen about her vices, and she teaches herself to like each one when she hears it: smoking, coffee, and red wine. The modest, mousy office girl starts to wear her deceased mother's fur coats, rouge her cheeks, and lift her chin a little higher.
Eileen, Oldroyd's follow-up to her powerful debut movie Lady Macbeth, 2016, explores similar dark territory in its depiction of a young lady struggling to overcome the obstacles her circumstances have set in her path. The two films are a compelling combination; the director is obviously fascinated with extremely complex characters and adept at getting powerful performances out of his performers. Both are literary adaptations, and Oldroyd excels at subtly bringing them to disturbing ends while maintaining a striking visual aesthetic.
Eileen's relationship with her alcoholic father Shea Whigham is equally tense as he dismantles her pretences with insults and sour remarks. However, Eileen's stale, caring response to him suggests her loyalty—a quality that would have disastrous consequences. The story is kept tightly paced by Oldroyd, who first gives us peeks into Eileen's innermost thoughts such as her desire to blow her own head off before deftly manipulating this spooky humour with a well-timed tonal shift from unsure, fixated love drama to violent thriller.
You can stream this movie on Sflix.
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