Sundance review: 'Eileen' is atmospheric noir, with strong performances by Thomasin McKenzie and Anne Hathaway

Two powerhouse actresses — Anne Hathaway and Thomasin McKenzie — are the reason to watch “Eileen,” a noir drama with a lot of atmosphere and a long fuse.

McKenzie (“Jojo Rabbit,” “Last Night in Soho”) plays Eileen Dunlop, a mousy clerk working in the offices of a Massachusetts prison in the winter of 1964. When she’s not filing papers or overseeing the mothers and girlfriends who come on visiting day, Eileen is caring for and enabling her alcoholic father (Shea Whigham), the retired police chief.

Things get interesting at the prison when the prison’s psychologist retires and is replaced by Dr. Rebecca St. John (played by Hathaway). Rebecca quickly befriends Eileen, who starts to become quite interested in this glamorous new co-worker. Rebecca and Eileen also share an interest in the fate of one young prisoner, Lee Polk (Sam Nivola), whose mother, Ann (Marin Ireland), reacts harshly to Rebecca’s methods.

The screenplay by Luke Goebel and Ottessa Moshfegh, based on Moshfegh’s novel, starts to descend into some dark places — particularly some quick daydream sequences where Eileen imagines herself killing herself or someone else — before a whopper of a twist fairly late in the game.

Director William Oldroyd (“Lady Macbeth”) steeps the story in shadows, like a dark version of a Douglas Sirk melodrama — or, if you want a more recent reference, similar to Todd Haynes’ “Carol.” The treatment gives McKenzie and Hathaway, as the young woman starting to claim her power and the older woman serving as an enigmatic role model, several opportunities to seize the screen.

“Eileen” isn’t perfect — the twist is a knockout, but takes several minutes to recover from, and the ending is a bit abrupt. But for a rare platform for two actresses of equal talent to go head-to-head, this movie is worth the effort.

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‘Eileen’

★★★

Playing in the Premieres section of the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Screens again Sunday, Jan. 22, 6:15 p.m., Grand Theatre, Salt Lake City; Tuesday, Jan. 24, 10 p.m., Redstone Cinemas, Park City; Thursday, Jan. 26, 9 a.m., Eccles Theatre, Park City; Saturday, Jan. 28, 8:15 p.m., Megaplex Theatre at The Gateway, Salt Lake City. Not rated, but probably R for violence, language and sexual references. Running time: 98 minutes.