Come on, Eileen! (CREDIT: NEON)

Starring: Thomasin McKenzie, Anne Hathaway, Shea Wigham, Marin Ireland, Owen Teague

Director: William Oldroyd

Running Time: 98 Minutes

Rating: R for Masshole Behavior and a Sudden Violent Turn

Release Date: December 1, 2023 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Eileen Dunlop (Thomasin McKenzie) has a real going-nowhere job as a secretary at a juvenile prison in 1960s coastal Massachusetts. She lives with her alcoholic widowed father, Jim (Shea Wigham), who mostly berates her for not measuring up to her married sister. But her world is suddenly opened up by an exponential order of magnitude when she befriends the prison’s new resident psychologist, Rebecca (Anne Hathaway). There’s an undeniable frisson of romance as well, but Eileen is so enthralled by Rebecca mainly because she’s never encountered anyone so cosmopolitan. Their connection is deep and genuine, but a much darker story is lurking in plain sight

What Made an Impression?: Breaking Free: In the likes of Leave No Trace, Jojo Rabbit, Last Night in Soho, and well, pretty much everything she’s had a starring role in, Thomasin McKenzie has specialized in playing the most delicate of delicate creatures. And Eileen sure looks like she’s just the latest scarred entrant in this distinguished lineup. But she quickly demonstrates that she’s much more complicated than a standard-issue shrinking violet. Her self-assuredness was actually there all along, or at least it was present by the time that we meet her. She just needed the right spark to be set off.
Sapphic Thrills: What a joy it is to luxuriate in endlessly seductive dialogue! While it’s abundantly clear in their conversations just how smitten Eileen is with Rebecca, there’s also a hint that she’s somewhere in the middle of the Kinsey scale, as we also see her fantasizing about a male co-worker. So her romantic struggles thus far haven’t been for lack of bodies, but for want of wit and philosophy. Rebecca is just the right amount of individualistic and unapologetic to activate the same in Eileen. And the dialogue as a whole is just wonderfully ferocious throughout, coming courtesy of co-writers Luke Goebel and Ottessa Moshfegh (the latter of whom is adapting her own novel).
Here Comes the Twist: On Christmas Eve, Rebecca unexpectedly invites Eileen over for the evening. And she eagerly accepts. After all, her next best option is looking over her dad while his liver wastes away. At this point in the story, I was all ready for the two ladies to just toast to the baby Jesus as the credits roll, or maybe, if they’re feeling dangerous, to drive away together to somewhere that their love will be accepted. But then something much more unpredictable happens. I won’t say anything anymore, and honestly I’m worried I may have already said too much. But this was the moment for me that Eileen went from perfectly satisfying to astoundingly unforgettable. It might have been nice if the running time were 10 or 20 minutes longer to let this swerve breathe a little bit. Still, it’s a bracing and breathtaking conclusion to an unexpected thrill ride.

Eileen is Recommended If You Like: Carol, Lady MacBeth, Gone Girl

Grade: 4 out of 5 Martinis