Shirley (2020) Neon
Directed by Josephine Decker
Screenplay by Sarah Gubbins based on the Novel by Susan Scarf Merrell
Cinematography Sturla Brandth Grovlen
107m / Rated R / Streaming June 5th
CAST: Elizabeth Moss ( Shirley Jackson), Odessa Young (Rose Nemser/Paula), Michael Stuhlbarg (Stanley Hyman), Logan Lerman (Fred Nemser), Victoria Pedretti (Katherine), Robert Wuhl (Randy Fisher), Paul O’Brien (Dean), Orlagh Cassidy (Caroline), Bisserat Tseggai (Peggy), Allen McCullough (Norman)
Shirley seeks to take us to a place where few are permitted to tread. To see into the mind of a deeply talented writer is indeed an honor, but as most places of great beauty, it is also fraught with hidden horrors. Josephine Decker achieves the impossible with a disjointed narrative that relies as much on visuals as it does on the helter skelter thought process of the titular character brought to explosive life by Elizabeth Moss. Fortunately, we are given a guide played with honesty and passion in an exceptional performance by Odessa Young (who also plays Paula the woman that vanished into the woods from Bennington College that Jackson is writing about and imagines as Rose). Sturla Brandth Grovlen’s cinematography explores Shirley’s world with with artful assurance and beauty.
The author is haunted by an idea that seems to be beyond her power as she is sinking deeper into illness. A young couple comes to live with her and her husband Stanley (Michael Stuhlbarg), and an uneasy bond develops between Jackson and Rose Nemar who is acting as caretaker for the writer’s home while her husband, Fred Nemser (Logan Lerman) is working with Jackson’s husband at Bennington College. Rose is first repelled by the couple and their strange dwelling, and then gradually drawn in by the bizarre antics taking place around her.
The entire cast works well spinning a suspenseful tale as the writer presses hard on her own psyche as well as Rose’s to bring Paula to life while Stanley hovers, fretting and encouraging at turns. The narrative moves with a supernatural subtlety between reality and the imagined while revealing the depth of the characters through the veil of near madness.
Certainly a bar raiser and one on the best films of the year to date. Kudos to all involved.
Streaming June 5th