Eileen: Intense, noir-infused character study will leave you wanting more

By Liz Braun

Rating: B

Eileen is a slender drama distinguished by strong performances. 

This film, from director William Oldroyd, is all about a wallflower keen to have some sort of excitement in her dull existence; Eileen is billed as a psychological thriller-(ish), but it’s more like an intense character study.  

Eileen (Thomasin McKenzie) was at college and almost launched into adult life when she had to return to small-town Massachusetts to nurse her dying mother. 

Now she lives back at home with her alcoholic father (Shea Whigham) — formerly chief of police in their hamlet — and she works in the office at a youth prison.

Anne Hathaway and Thomasin McKenzie strike up a strange friendship in Eileen.

The setting is the early 1960s, just prior to the seismic social and cultural upheaval that defines the era. 

Everything is about to change …

Eileen quietly lusts after a young male guard at work and otherwise yearns for something, anything, to kick-start her life. She’s outside the prison one morning when a red car flashes past, a spot of colour in the dreary landscape. The driver is Dr. Rebecca Saint John, a glamorous blonde who proves to be the new chief psychologist at the youth facility.

Rebecca (Anne Hathaway) is a revelation — a fearless, charming, Harvard-educated professional who takes the time to engage Eileen in conversation. 

Eileen seems suddenly able to envision a wider world and she is besotted with her new friend. Rebecca dresses well and Eileen begins to do likewise, borrowing fancier clothes from her late mother’s closet. The women have drinks after work one day and dance together at the local tavern — heady stuff for Eileen.

But there’s an edge to Rebecca that suggests barely contained chaos.  She’s a loose cannon. And there’s a dark side to Eileen’s yearning that’s expressed in startling flashes of imagined violence. Where is this friendship going?

Rebecca is determined to bring change to the way the prison treats its young offenders and begins to interview various inmates and their parents. Soon enough, the vague undercurrent of menace around the two women evolves into an unexpected situation. 

Eileen is based on the novel by Ottessa Moshfegh, who co-wrote the screenplay with Luke Goebel (Causeway). The excellent cast includes Sam Nivola and Marin Ireland; everyone here, even in the smallest of roles, is fully three-dimensional and McKenzie and Hathaway are superb.

There’s something haunting about this movie, and in a good way. It stays with a viewer long after viewing, but it’s slightly unsatisfying overall. It leaves you wanting more —kind of like Eileen herself.

Eileen. Directed by William Oldroyd, starring Anne Hathaway and Thomasin McKenzie. Opens in theatres Friday, December 8.