'Eileen' bubbles but doesn't pop
NEON
A repressed life is constantly inhaling, waiting for release, hoping that something might, can, will happen. In that sense, “Eileen” is well suited to its titular character in that both the film and Eileen (Thomasin McKenzie of “The Power of the Dog” and “Leave No Trace”) float like smoke in the air, waiting to be blown in a particular direction.
It’s disappointing, then, that the turning point for this young woman in early 1960s Massachusetts threatens to lead somewhere big and meaningful but doesn’t actually get there. Neither noir nor soap nor worthy of citing Hitchcock, “Eileen” could use a little less restraint, like a groove that missed the entrance for a solo.
In short: Eileen’s life isn’t much. Working at a boys’ prison and living with a verbally abusive dad (Shea Whigham) following the death of her mother, Eileen fantasizes but doesn’t pursue, observes but retreats. That’s until new prison psychologist Rebecca (Anne Hathaway in femme-fatale-next-door mode) arrives, her doctorate and her blonde hair and her essence representing endless possibilities in contrast to Eileen’s perpetual feelings of limitation. Inside her confined place of employment and barely veiled crush, Eileen seems to sense an escape, and Rebecca’s friendliness opens the door.
Hey, that description sounds kinda steamy. Pour some ice on it; despite mostly solid performances (Hathaway could use more mystery), “Eileen” doesn’t really smolder, and its throughline of lousy parents and trapped children and desire as inhibitor of reason fails to arrive at a satisfying, coherent place. Adapted from Ottessa Moshfegh’s novel by the author and her husband Luke Goebel, the film, containing numerous flashes of dreams, suggests rich detours of curiosity and anticipation that the book assumedly captures more fully than director William Oldroyd (“Lady Macbeth”) can.
As delayed coming-of-age story, “Eileen” certainly understands that feeling of life dangerously teetering between about to start and past its peak. As psychological thriller, it just kinda hovers and dissipates, a tease without a memory.
C
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