Eileen

Bound by the events of the novel but absent its enjoyably sociopathic sense of personality, it hits its marks and quietly trails off to nowhere: a trajectory unworthy of its protagonist.

This adaptation of Ottessa Moshfegh’s novel is not a story of repression, but something more prickly, more envious, and more dangerous.

Finding the right ending remains one of the most difficult and persistent challenges in telling a story, so filmmakers deserve some latitude in carving one out, but they rarely miss this badly.

Eileen is triumphant, a rousing directorial success from Oldroyd.

It feels like we’re watching a Todd Haynes film as filtered through the lens of a Hitchcockian tale, with a late-story development that’s bat-bleep crazy but also gripping.

It looks great, it sounds nice, the performances are solid, but none of the choices feel inspired by character or story.

Uneven but revealing...

The darkness it laments on makes it quite an engaging movie with compelling food for thought. One just wishes it had a touch more flair to its conclusion.

Eileen invites a deep reflection on the human condition, particularly in terms of dysfunctionality and family trauma. [Full review in Spanish]

While not all of Oldroyd's decisions are convincing... Eileen never ceases to be a disturbing, audacious, uncomfortable, and in several ways, a provocative film. [Full review in Spanish]