388. Shirley; movie review

 

 

SHIRLEY

Cert 15

107 mins

BBFC advice: Contains strong bloody images, sex, language

Apparently, Shirley Jackson was an American writer who was known primarily for her horror and mystery works.

Indeed, she was so prolific that she composed six novels, two memoirs and more than 200 short stories.

However, we would never have grasped how easily her pen flew across the pages from Josephine Decker's movie.

Her film focuses on the tortured gestation of one of Jackson's novels and the people in her life at the time.

Initially, Jackson, played by Elisabeth Moss, refuses to pick up her pen having fallen into what appears to be tortuous, isolating depression.

When she does emerge, her friends and family hold their breath because her public behaviour is so erratic.

Her husband, Stanley Edgar Hyman (Michael Stuhlbarg) is equally eccentric but, remarkably, is leading a class at the local university.

He insists that an aspiring professor (Logan Lerman) and his pregnant wife (Odessa Young) live with Shirley and him after arriving in town.

Despite slight misgivings, the couple agree.

What they don't anticipate is that they become playthings for a psychological drama which threatens to unhinge what they hold dear.

Decker's movie comprises of some high-quality acting. The central quartet all give arresting performances - particularly Moss.

Jackson must have been a dream role because she gets to exaggerate on several different levels.

I was also rather taken with Young who tries to outwit the ace manipulator but finds a situation becoming further out of her control.

However, the problem is that all of the characters are more irritating than engaging. I wouldn't have wanted to spend a minute in their company and so 107 was a big stretch.

Shirley Jackson's entire life may well have been a subject worthy of a movie but to put the microscope on a couple of months was pushing it.

Reasons to watch: Hard-hitting performances

Reasons to avoid: Goes over the same ground too often

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: Yes

Overall rating: 5/10

Did you know? Jackson struggled to get published in the early years of her career. The New Yorker published four of her stories in 1943, four again in 1944, and then nothing until “The Lottery” in 1948. But because she tended to get despondent whenever she received a rejection letter, Hyman asked her agent to tell her only of her acceptances.

The final word. Josephine Decker: “Shirley was exciting because it was such a discovery process. I initially thought we were gonna shoot it in a much more locked-down, Hitchcockian way but then there was something so visceral and sensual and tender about the relationship between Rose and Shirley that we ended up shooting it much more handheld because we wanted to be there and get in close and interface with the actors.” The Skinny

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