Eileen (2023)

Eileen is the kind of psychological thriller that creeps up on you like the Massachusetts winter it’s set in—cold, quiet, and suddenly consuming. What makes it special is how it turns fascination into danger with a sharp, beguiling sense of mood, letting glances, pauses, and small humiliations build into something genuinely thrilling. Thomasin McKenzie gives Eileen a bruised, watchful interior life, while Anne Hathaway arrives like a match in a dark room—electrifying, glamorous, and just unsettling enough to keep you leaning in. It’s not a roller-coaster crime movie; it’s a slow-burn, atmosphere-first descent, and if you like your suspense stylish, character-driven, and a little wicked, this one sticks the landing.

Eileen is aiming for a chilly, character-driven noir thriller about obsession, class, and desire simmering under a buttoned-up 1960s surface, and you can feel it reaching for something unsettling. The problem is the pieces don’t always click into a satisfying whole: the tension builds in fits and starts, the psychological bite stays oddly muted, and when it finally pivots into darker territory it can feel more anticlimactic than shocking. If you’re expecting a hard-edged crime thriller with big reveals and a payoff that matches the setup, this may come off flat and a bit undercooked. That said, the wintry mood and the central performances can still make it worthwhile if you like slow-burn unease more than narrative fireworks.