--- title: "Eileen: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/eileen/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/eileen" critics_score: 73 critics_reviews: 15 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Eileen (2023): what the critics said Critics' score 73 from 15 reviews: 13 positive, 0 mixed, 2 negative. Most critics like Eileen, and the praise clusters in the same two places: the lead performances and the atmosphere. Anne Hathaway and Thomasin McKenzie are singled out throughout, several reviews calling the pairing the film’s engine and a few naming it their best work to date. The 1960s New England setting, the sickly festive colour and the score are credited with a mood of glamour rubbing against grime, and the novel’s dark humour is judged to have survived the adaptation intact. Many enjoy the film’s willingness to swerve from a story of repression into something much nastier. The reservations gather around that swerve and what follows it. Even admirers find the script thin and the ending abrupt, with the central relationship left underdeveloped. The dissent is sharp rather than widespread: Empire calls it a workaday genre exercise, The Times finds the late plot ridiculous, and The Guardian judges it a solemn, anticlimactic misfire. The gap between the warmest and coldest reviews is unusually wide. ## Variety — Jessica Kiang Rating Critics Pick. 22 January 2023. Festival review. The critic hails the deliciously deranged, genre-devouring portrait of perversity with career-high performances from Hathaway and McKenzie. It singles out the formal precision and blackly comedic power shifts that make the twisted psychodrama exhilarating. [Read the review](https://variety.com/2023/film/reviews/eileen-review-anne-hathaway-thomasin-mckenzie-1235497966/) ## The AV Club — Murtada Elfadl Rating B+. 29 November 2023. The critic finds it a stylish wild ride and enthralling adaptation that keeps tension lively with committed performances, though not entirely satisfying. It is imaginatively conceived and beguiling with subtle beats. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/eileen-movie-review-anne-hathaway-thomasin-mckenzie-1851055981) ## Evening Standard — Nick Howells Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 30 November 2023. The critic finds the film an erotic neo-noir about desire and liberation in which the protagonist's repressed urges are unleashed by a glamorous newcomer. McKenzie's performance is singled out as the standout for its depth and intoxication. [Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/eileen-movie-review-ottessa-moshfegh-anne-hathaway-thomasin-mckenzie-b1123011.html) ## Little White Lies — Katherine McLaughlin Rating 4/4/4. 30 November 2023. The review commends the dark humour from the novel being well translated and the strong chemistry between the leads. It singles out the atmospheric 1960s setting with its disorientating festive colours and the film's exploration of repression and yearning. [Read the review](https://lwlies.com/reviews/eileen) ## Los Angeles Times — Justin Chang Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 30 November 2023. The critic praises the sleek, unnerving adaptation and especially Anne Hathaway's mesmerizing turn as the glamorous catalyst. It singles out the film's willingness to leave the protagonist's inner life partly ambiguous while delivering shocking reveals. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2023-11-30/eileen-review-anne-hathaway-thomasin-mckenzie) ## Radio Times — Patrick Cremona Rating 4/5. The critic calls it a bleak but alluring noir thriller whose script translates the novel's feel impeccably. They single out the richly atmospheric mood created through period stylings and score, plus the ingenious third-act twist. [Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-rwhd1u/eileen/) ## The i Paper — Christina Newland Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 30 November 2023. The adaptation is praised as a psychosexual thriller with visual restraint and period accuracy that explores feminine obsession and madness. Oldroyd is highlighted as a talented director whose work here is twisty, unpredictable and absorbing. [Read the review](https://inews.co.uk/culture/film/eileen-review-anne-hathaway-goes-full-hitchcock-in-this-psychosexual-thriller-2783549) ## Vulture Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 8 December 2023. The critic describes a slender but engaging feature that is as much drama as thriller, with Oldroyd coaxing strong performances; it is a bracing watch powered by the leads and a standout supporting turn, though ultimately a little thin. [Read the review](https://www.vulture.com/article/review-the-seductive-eileen-flirts-with-disaster.html) ## Empire — Yasmin Omar Fi1m's normalised score 35/100 (inferred from the text). 1 December 2023. The film is dismissed as a workaday neo-noir that starts with intriguing character dynamics but veers into unsatisfying conventional thriller territory. Hathaway is noted for brightening the proceedings, but the overall verdict calls it a limp genre exercise that prioritises B-movie thrills over nuance. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/eileen/) ## Slant Magazine Rating 1/4. 6 November 2023. The critic sees it as a deliciously teasing queer noir that heats up alluringly with misdirected erotic energies, becoming a pulpy phantasmagoria of fear and desire offering visions of queer ecstasy within prisons. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/eileen-review-anne-hathaway-william-oldroyd/) ## Film Comment 6 February 2023. Festival review. The film makes its protagonist unknowable rather than unlikable, swirling a deliciously pulpy story around her with thrilling dark surprises. It adapts the book's flat narration into an ambient fury of sound and image, swerving from a Carol-esque desire story into seedy vengeance. [Read the review](https://www.filmcomment.com/blog/sundance-2023-earth-mama-all-dirt-roads-eileen/) ## IndieWire — Ryan Lattanzio 22 January 2023. Festival review. The critic hails it as a darkly romantic adaptation that already feels close to iconic, with career-best turns from Anne Hathaway and Thomasin McKenzie in a perverse folie à deux. [Read the review](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/eileen-review-anne-hathaway-thomas-mckenzie-ottessa-moshfegh-1234802520/) ## Screen Daily 22 January 2023. Festival review. The review praises the lean, well-oiled noir tale of obsession that confirms the director's talent, with strong visual storytelling, 1960s evocation, taut plotting and central performances. It singles out the psychological thriller beats delivered with dark humour and style. [Read the review](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/eileen-sundance-review/5178362.article) ## Sight and Sound 24 November 2023. The critic highlights the film's sickly, nicotine-yellow visual palette and its portrayal of a young woman's infatuation that shifts into violent thriller territory. They single out the textured contrast between glamour and grime, along with the lead performances. [Read the review](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/eileen-dark-enticing-heady-genre-blend) ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw 29 November 2023. The film is a peculiar misfire of a psycho-noir with solemn intensity and vehement performances from Hathaway and McKenzie, but it feels like an unsatisfying and anticlimactic oddity. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/nov/29/eileen-review-anne-hathaway-is-vehement-in-solemnly-intense-psycho-noir) ## The Hollywood Reporter — David Rooney 22 January 2023. Festival review. The critic calls it a strange and spellbinding psychological thriller with sly humor and a bold command of Hitchcockian suspense tropes. Performances by Thomasin McKenzie and Anne Hathaway are expertly synced and bracing. [Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/eileen-review-thomasin-mckenzie-anne-hathaway-1235306461/) ## The New York Times — Alissa Wilkinson Rating Critic's Pick. 30 November 2023. The critic finds the adaptation delivers cathartic nastiness through its cold New England Christmas setting and the central relationship. It singles out the lead performances for bringing tension and unexpected liberation to the thriller. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/30/movies/eileen-review.html) ## The Telegraph 30 November 2023. The handsome modern noir centres on an affair but lacks sexual tension and doesn't quite fly, though McKenzie holds it together and there are memorable images. [Read the review](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/eileen-review-anne-hathaway-thomasin-mckenzie/) ## The Times — Kevin Maher Rating ★★☆☆☆. 1 December 2023. This is a deranged mish-mash and disappointing follow-up from Oldroyd, a confusing letdown with a ridiculous kidnap and torture plot. [Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/article/eileen-film-review-a-deranged-mish-mash-starring-anne-hathaway-qxt70s08g) ## /Film — Ben Pearson Rating 9.5/10. 22 January 2023. Festival review. The critic hails the film as a stylish, sexy, and disturbing stunner with extraordinary performances from Anne Hathaway and Thomasin McKenzie, praising its audacious twist and how it subverts expectations after a familiar setup. [Read the review](https://www.slashfilm.com/1174823/eileen-review-anne-hathaway-lights-the-screen-on-fire-in-this-surprising-stunner-sundance/) ## The Wrap — Steve Pond Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 22 January 2023. Festival review. The critic calls the film one of the boldest provocations at Sundance, a blackly humorous riff on film noir and a tour de force for its cast. She singles out McKenzie’s precise calibration of the title character’s rich, weird depths and the bold moments given to the leads in the homestretch. [Read the review](https://www.thewrap.com/eileen-review-thomasin-mckenzie-anne-hathaway/) ## Deadline — Valerie Complex Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 22 January 2023. Festival review. The critic finds the film an unsettling noir worth the wait as female loneliness and rage collide. She singles out the masterful lead performances, especially McKenzie’s switch from mousy to maniacal and Hathaway’s smoldering, flirtatious turn. [Read the review](https://deadline.com/2023/01/eileen-sundance-film-review-this-is-what-happens-1235236278/) ## Polygon — joshua-rivera Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 7 December 2023. The critic describes it as a daring thriller that plays a guessing game with the audience through small twitches and passions, highlighting strong direction, performances, and ironic distance that invites speculation. [Read the review](https://www.polygon.com/reviews/23990737/eileen-review-thomasin-mckenzie-anne-hathaway/) ## The Playlist — Tomris Laffly Rating B-. 22 January 2023. Festival review. The review finds the film visually lush with terrific lead performances but criticizes its thin script and rushed pacing that undercuts the central relationship and leaves the story feeling underdeveloped despite a strong premise. [Read the review](https://theplaylist.net/eileen-review-a-slender-thriller-despite-its-gorgeous-looks-terrific-performances-from-anne-hathaway-thomasin-mckenzie-20230122/) ## Collider — Ross Bonaime 31 January 2023. Festival review. The critic praises the film's defiance of expectations through its sharp tonal shifts and strong performances, especially the chemistry between McKenzie and Hathaway, while noting the bare-bones story and abrupt ending. [Read the review](https://collider.com/eileen-review-anne-hathaway/) ## Film Stories — James Harvey 3 October 2023. The critic praises the atmospheric neo-noir thriller and strong performances from Thomasin McKenzie and Anne Hathaway, noting its stylish visuals, score, and compelling mix of romance and tension, though the ending arrives abruptly. [Read the review](https://filmstories.co.uk/reviews/eileen-review-a-wonderfully-atmospheric-twisty-neo-noir/) ## Paste — Shayna Maci Warner Rating 8.0. 29 November 2023. Festival review. The critic calls it a truly nasty piece of queer work with visceral thrills, strong performances from Hathaway and McKenzie, and off-kilter sexy moments, but notes the twist leads to an atmospheric yet unsatisfactory close. [Read the review](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/sundance-2023/eileen-review) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/eileen.md