In 1960s New England, Eileen (McKenzie) is a dowdy misfit who works in a boy’s penitentiary and lives a humdrum, sexless life with her alcoholic and belittling father (Shea Whigham). But one day a new prison psychologist arrives in the impossibly glamorous form of Dr. Rebecca St. John (Hathaway), a gorgeous sophisticate in clicking heels and Marilyn-blonde hair. Eileen is immediately transfixed. Befriended by Eileen, Rebecca's life — and her appearance — change radically but little does Rebecca suspect that Eileen is a far more ruthless personality than her mousiness initially suggests.

In its gorgeously rich cinematography, costuming, and storyline the film has unmistakable echoes of Todd Haynes’ Carol. But this is a curdled version of that kind of love story, in which shocking revelations and unforeseen twists suggest that not all journeys of self-discovery are the same. Sometimes, it’s a very strange, very dark self that is discovered.

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