Shirley (2020) Movie Review
“Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones.” This quote is from one of my all time favorite short stories, The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson. If you haven’t read The Lottery, please stop reading this and read that instead. It will give you a better sense of what you’re getting into with the biopic Shirley. Shirley Jackson is most famous for her short story The Lottery which was published in the New Yorker. The short story was divisive and sparked a lot of conversation about what was appropriate to write about. She also published six novels, two memoirs, and a large collection of short stories.
The biopic Shirley was directed by Josephine Decker and mixes fact with fiction. It depicts Shirley (Elisabeth Moss) and her husband Stanley (Michael Stuhlbarg) living in Vermont while Stanley teaches at Bennington College. Shirley is afflicted with some physical maladies and doesn’t usually leave the house. When newlyweds Fred (Logan Lerman) and Rose (Odessa Young) arrive to stay with Shirley’s husband, it throws a wrench into Shirley’s life. Fred is a protégé of Stanley’s and is usually absent teaching classes or doing other things on campus. Rose has difficulties adjusting to her new married life and reluctantly agrees to take on some housework because Shirley is incapable.
That’s the basic gist of the plot. The movie takes place right after The Lottery was published and there are several mentions of it in the movie. Decker is the perfect director to helm a biopic about Shirley Jackson. Her unusual style lends itself incredibly well in depicting the chaotic inner workings of Jackson’s mind. Decker brilliantly dissects Shirley and Stanley’s complex marital arrangement. Their marriage was open, so Stanley was often gallivanting with former students and other faculty members. In the movie Stanley alternates between being a staunch supporter of Shirley and her writing but also being critical of her mental condition and jealous of her success. Shirley clearly loves Stanley on some level but is also jealous and frustrated by his extracurricular activities. At one point she confronts a woman he is sleeping with saying, “He’d be bored of you in a week.” Their push-pull relationship was intoxicating to watch on screen with Moss and Stuhlbarg each giving a master class in nuance and screen presence.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg in terms of complex relationships. Rose and Shirley have their own peculiar interactions. During the movie, Shirley is working on writing her novel Hangsaman which was inspired by the real life disappearance of a student at Bennington named Paula Jean Welden in 1946. Rose turns out to be a sort of muse for Shirley as she delves into Paula’s psyche and crafts her fictional character’s descent into madness. For her part, Rose attempts to navigate dealing with the volatile and often mean Shirley. They strike up a sort of friendship but with Shirley you’re never quite sure where she stands.
Part of the appeal of Jackson as an author is her wit. She covers dark subject matter but it’s often infused with a biting humor. Decker and Moss do an excellent job of displaying that in Shirley. At several points throughout the movie I found my mouth agape in equal parts horror and amusement as Shirley hurled insults and rude comments at whoever else happened to be in the room. That is in part due to an excellent screenplay from Sarah Gubbins but it’s also largely due to Moss’ delivery. There are strong performances by each of the four main cast members, but none so memorable as Moss herself. She proves yet again that she has a chameleon-like ability to slip into the skin of someone else and disappear completely.
Moss is Shirley Jackson and it would be a crying shame if she doesn’t get some awards buzz this year for her performance. Shirley captured the essence of Shirley Jackson in the purest form. Excellent performances from the cast combined with a brilliant bit of directing from Decker makes Shirley a movie you won’t want to miss.
Film or Movie: Film
You’ll like this film if:
1. You are familiar with any of Shirley Jackson’s work
2. You love Elisabeth Moss as much as I do
3. You like the filmmaking style of Madeline’s Madeline
