When I saw that one of my favorite books — “Eileen” by Ottessa Moshfegh — was being made into a movie I was eager to see her inner monologue and the strange relationships that she made on the movie screen. But the movie sadly did not give me any of the thoughtfulness I was looking for, which really made the book so compelling.
Actress Thomasin McKenzie was a good fit for the role of main character Eileen Dunlop because she has conventionally unattractive physical features and odd mannerisms as described in the book. But I cringed at her poor acting in certain scenes where she was supposed to act “crazy.” Instead these scenes came off as forced and meek.
The movie also did not portray the same feeling of interest that got me hooked on the book. You can get a much better grasp of her atypical character through reading the book because she narrates it herself and you can tell what’s going on better. But in the movie it’s more difficult to understand her motives and therefore appreciate her as a character.
“Eileen” is set in a 1960s Massachusetts ghost town with nothing but bars and run-down houses. The movie does a good job of showing an atmosphere similar to the book leaving suspense because you’re not sure of where the movie is going to go next. The film is grainy with a dark aesthetic overall.
Eileen lives a very sadistic life, works at a beatdown boys prison and gets stuck in her gloomy hometown taking care of her sick mother. This was a fitting opening and set the overall scene for the rest of the movie.
The opening scene is absurd. Eileen is on the top of a hill with her car running, smoke is seeping out from the car and then she picks up snow and puts it in her pants. This was a slap in the face to see in an opening scene. This is similar to other grotesque scenes in the movie, but acts as a decent portrayal of Eileen’s thrill-seeking qualities and a preview for her personality.
I found the film extremely difficult to follow and I never got a true grasp on what the plot was supposed to be. The book does a much better job of portraying Eileen’s aspirations and all of her quirks. In the beginning, Eileen commits a plethora of strange acts, but for the next thirty minutes nothing exciting occurs and I found myself unsure of what the movie was trying to show or say. But towards the last twenty minutes of the movie you get a better idea of what’s going on and the plot twists completely.
When the plot really starts is when a psychologist from Harvard gets hired at the boys prison to talk to and therapize the depraved boys. Actress Anne Hathaway played the psychologist Rebecca, and I found her character to be very annoying and vain like in the novel. This part of the movie was done well because it portrayed Rebecca’s character and her relationship with Eileen accurately the same way the book does.
Eileen becomes Rebecca’s partner in crime, but Rebecca is manipulative and fake towards her so Eileen is forced to run away. One of the best parts in the movie is Eileen’s fierce joy and determination to finally escape the town and start her own life because you finally get to see the main character happy.
For Moshfegh fans and people who enjoy slowburn psychological thrillers, “Eileen” is worth a watch, because it is intriguing to see the book turn into a movie. But for everyone else, I’d stick with the book.
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