Direction: William Oldroyd
Country: USA
Directed by William Oldroyd (Lady Macbeth, 2016), Eileen is an adaptation of Ottessa Moshfegh’s debut novel of the same name, with a screenplay by Moshfegh herself and Luke Goebel. It’s a soggy slow burn depicted with formal pomp and impressive cinematography that, gradually, goes from intriguing to banal.
The plot follows Eileen (Thomasin McKenzie), a bored and lonely young woman who lives with her alcoholic father (Shea Whigham), a troubled ex-cop, and works in a juvenile detention facility as an assistant. Her routine takes a strange turn when Rebecca (Anne Hathaway), a confident psychologist and graduated from Harvard, arrives at New England, bringing some fantasy into her life but also chaos. Both women share a special interest in Lee Polk (Sam Nivola), a kid who mysteriously stabbed his father to death in his sleep.
Eileen is better characterized than Rebecca, who appears more enigmatic, and the flatness of the story is intermittently interrupted by the former’s grace. However, as a noir psychological thriller, the film fails to raise its staging to exceptional heights, remaining more or less nailed to the ground. It’s all done mechanically, without the brilliance that would have captivated the audience.
Sensuality, desire, and depressive insanity are predominant factors in a story that recites all the commonplaces of the genre without possessing the sophistication of its models. Despite incorporating some twists that force changes in direction, Eileen falls short of being exciting, concluding with a rushed ending that lacks surprise or shock. What remains is just the idea of something uncomfortably bland.
