William Oldroyd’s second feature film “Eileen” is a rather uneven mix of noir thriller and coming-of-age drama. The movie is fairly compelling during its first two acts thanks to its good mood and storytelling as well as the two talented actresses at the center, but, alas, it stumbles a lot as taking a left turn during its last act, and the finale feels quite unsatisfied without enough sense of resolution.

Thomasin McKenzie, a promising actress who has steadily advanced during last several years since her breakout turn in Debra Granik’s “Leave No Trace” (2018), plays Eileen Dunlop, a young woman who has been hopelessly stuck in her little hometown in Massachusetts for many years. While she does not like much her office job at a nearby correction facility for adolescent boys, she also has to deal with her alcoholic father Jim (Shea Wingham) everyday. Sadly, there is not anyone who can support or comfort her at all, and it seems that she is destined to be imprisoned in her ongoing misery and loneliness for the rest of her life.

And then there comes an unexpected change via Rebecca (Anne Hathaway), a beautiful and confident female psychiatrist who starts to work in the aforementioned correction facility. While watching how Rebecca holds her own place well in front of many male staff members of the correction facility, Eileen cannot help but become more impressed by Rebecca, and Rebecca seems to be aware of that even though she does not interact with Eileen that much at first.

When Rebecca later suggests a little drinking night between them, Eileen cannot possibly be excited more. Although the end of their rather wild drinking night does not end up that well for Eileen, she is glad for finally having someone she may actually lean on, and she finds herself becoming more mesmerized by Rebecca’s beauty and confidence, which certainly reminds her more of how she has looked plain and inconsequential throughout her whole life.

Meanwhile, as keeping making one trouble after another as before, Elieen’s father slowly begins to sense some change in his daughter, and, not so surprisingly, he does not approve of that much. Eileen becomes more concerned about him when it turns out later that he will die sooner or later due to his worsening alcoholism, but her father also feels more like a burden to her than before, and we can easily sense a trouble to come when she is asked to keep a certain old item of her father under her care just for the safety of him as well as anyone around him.

The screenplay by Luke Goebel and Ottesa Moshfegh, which is based on the novel of the same name by Moshfegh (She also participated in the production of the film, by the way), adds more tension to the story and characters when Rebecca comes to pay more attention to a certain young inmate in the correction facility. It looks like there is something hidden behind his horrible murder case, and Rebecca is quite determined to get to the bottom of it even though she cannot get any cooperation from the mother of the inmate.

While unfortunately hampered by several narrative hiccups during its last act, the movie continues to hold our attention at least due to its solid technical aspects. Thanks to cinematographer Ari Wagner, who previously worked with Oldroyd in his debut film “Lady Macbeth” (2016) and then was deservedly Oscar-nominated for Jane Campion’s stellar masterwork “The Power of Dog” (2021), the stark and gloomy atmosphere surrounding its main characters is constantly palpable on the screen, and we come to get more understanding on its titular character’s misery and despair with her life – and how she is irresistibly attracted to her new friend. As they subtly revolve around each other, the movie sometimes feels like a psychological thriller novel Patricia Highsmith could have written if she had had more artistic freedom during that time, and McKenzie and her co-star ably convey to us enough emotional undercurrents around their characters.

Diligently carrying the film to the end, McKenzie did a commendable job of embodying her character’s quietly desperate status, and her low-ley acting is complemented well by Hathaway’s natural star quality. With her character’s striking blonde hairdo and chic attire, Hathway instantly draws our attention right from the beginning, and it is a shame that the movie fails to explore more of her character’s relationship with Eileen when they find themselves in a very tricky situation during the last act. Despite his rather thankless task, Shea Whigham brings some bitter human qualities to his hopelessly damaged character, and the special mention goes to Marin Ireland, a relatively unknown veteran character actress who has appeared here and there in a number of notable films such as “Hell or High Water” (2016) and “The Irishman” (2019). She must be quite believable during one key scene later in the story, and I must tell you that she did much more than holding her own small place well between McKenzie and Hathaway.

On the whole, “Eileen” is another disturbing female drama film from Oldroyd, but it is not as successful as his previous film “Lady Macbeth”, a chilling period drama about one young married woman’s ruthless descent into evil and corruption. Yes, the movie is engaging to some degrees thanks to a number of admirable elements including the commendable performances from its main cast members, so you will not be bored a lot, but it could do its job better in my humble opinion.