Eileen (2023)

 

Genre: Thriller/ Mystery

Time: 1h 38mins

Director: William Oldroyd

Quick Summary: A woman's friendship with a new co-worker at the prison facility where she works takes a sinister turn.

Damn girl, you be doing that in public?

I'm going to start by saying right away I was disappointed by this film. It has such an incredible set-up and really interesting characters that we could have sunk our teeth into, but it gives us all this and then just drops it. 

The two main characters honestly seemed so interesting to me. Looking like we were going to have a deep look into the main girl's psychology and her obsession/ reluctance towards sex, as well as her obsession with her older co-worker and then hand a possible lesbian relationship in the 60s. It shows how much she is obsessed with this older woman as we watch as Eileen copies her mannerisms and aesthetic, hoping she will get noticed by her. But no, we just get the surface level of all this.

I did like how this film looked and was shot. The grain really helped with the setting, and the costumes looked like they were plucked right out of the area. All the characters too didn't look a day past the era too. Anne Hathaway looks absolutely stunning in this. 

The first hour of this is mainly what I like as it's all set up and there is so much anticipation within as it's really hard to tell where this film is going. It actually feels like a rollercoaster that is slowly reaching the peak before the drop. When it reaches the twist, which I'll also add was actually very surprising, it seems like it's going to be really thrilling and ripping. But it just stagnates. Nothing really happens after this. The drop was actually a really flat line. Just when this film gets so interesting, it stops. I'm not really sure what happened in the background for this to happen. 

I did like the romance between the main two though. Eileen, whose life was pretty dull and boring until Rebecca came into her life. It's easy to see how it became an obsession for her. Though yes, it is pretty odd for such an older woman to be interested in a young woman, but honestly I found it kinda sweet. The moments between the two are kinda touching, like when they were dancing together. 

Aside from the main two characters, the rest I honestly forgot about. They're not really important for the most part apart from occasional interactions with the main two. Nobody really caught my interest, or they probably weren't developed too well. Even some that were crucial to the twist in this film, half the information felt like it was missing.

It really is a shame because the majority of this film is really entertaining to watch. I'd say give this a go to watch Anne Hathaway, or to see what you think of this. I tried to warn you by saying it is disappointing. 

5/10