Shirley

Josephine Decker follows up Madeline’s Madeline (Oslo Pix 2018) with an intense psychological drama partially inspired by the life of Shirley Jackson, one of horror literature’s most important authors. Shirley (Elisabeth Moss) is in the middle of writing her masterpiece Hangsaman, when the newlyweds Rose (Odessa Young) and Fred (Logan Lerman) moves in with her and her husband Stanley (Michael Stuhlbarg). The entry of the new guests quickly marks a break with Shirley’s strict routines. Rose, who is pregnant, unwillingly sees herself moving towards a traditional role as a housewife. Shirley, who points out that a “tidy home is a sign of mental inferiority” to underline her view of Rose, has for a long time been consumed by the author role at the expense of her own mental health.

Elisabeth Moss is exceptional as Shirley Jackson. She plays the author with a rawness and unpredictability that makes the audience both despise her and empathize with her. In her previous films, Decker has displayed a remarkable ability to create a unique atmosphere, which is prevalent also in Shirley. Hypnotic, at times disorienting, cinematography along with an uncomfortable sound design accentuates the claustrophobic mood of the home and the toxic relation of Shirley and her husband, which is slowly starting to infect the young couple. And, after a while, also the audience, as we begin to doubt what is real and what is fiction.

Director’s bio:

Josephine Decker (b. 1982) is an American actress, filmmaker and performance artist. She has been called one of the “25 New Faces of Independent Film” by Filmmaker Magazine. Decker’s first full length documentary, Bi the Way (2008), premiered at the South by Southwest festival, while her three fiction films Butter on the Latch (2013), Thou Wast Mild and Lovely (2014) and Madeline’s Madeline (2018) all premiered at the Berlinale.