Shirley (Film Review)

2020 Killer Films/Los Angeles Fund/Neon
Directed by: Josephine Decker; Written by: Sarah Gubbins (based on the novel of the same name by Susan Scarf Merrell)
Starring: Elisabeth Moss, Michael Stuhlbarg, Odessa Young, and Logan Lerman
MPAA Rating: R; Running Time: 107 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 8/10

Fred and Rosie Nemser seem to be coming into a dream situation. As Fred begins his new job at Bennington college, a professor and reknowned critic at the university, Stanley Hyman, asks if the young couple want to live with him and his wife...who just happens to be renowned mystery writer, Shirley Jackson. There's a couple of catches, though. The pregnant Rosie with have to do the housework...and also, Stanley and Shirley are huge assholes. Stanley is a womanizing, pompous jackass, and Shirley seems to say anything that comes to mind, most of it rude and acutely viscious. As Fred spends most of his days--and many of his nights--at the university, Rosie seems to spend most of her time running back to her room and crying. But gradually, something starts to change. Rosie strikes something that almost resembles friendship with Shirley...except only one person seems to be benefiting. And the other...seems to be inching forward toward suicide.
There are no shortage of biopics that puff and fluff up their subject. Shirley is not such a movie. It uses the fictional characters of the Nemsers to explore both Stanley Hyman and Shirley Jackson as individuals, as well as their marriage. However, while it doesn't beautify the personage of Shirley Jackson, it does reveal the nature of her brilliance. Much of that is due to the beautiful ambiguity of Sarah Gubbins screenplay, as well as an incredible performance from Elisabeth Moss. Moss has been hit-or-miss for me. I thought she was brilliant in Mad Men, showing the natural evolution of someone who started out meek and naïve, but over the course of the show, became confident and assertive. However, I've thought at other times, her performances have been a little clumsy and uneven, like in this year's goofy The Invisible Man. She's at the top of her game in Shirley, though, absolutely disappearing into the role. She's believable when she's exercising Jackson's acerbic wit, but also as she's empathetically attempting to get into her characters' heads. It's an incredible performance.
As to the ambiguity of the script, Gubbins does an excellent job of portraying the Rosie character as a symbol and representative for something deeper in Jackson's psyche, helped out immensely by Josephine Baker's impressionistic, hypnotic direction. Shirley isn't a perfect film by any means, and it isn't always easy to watch, but it gives an incredible and important artist her due, while showcasing excellent direction, writing, and acting. It may then, perhaps, be the perfect film for its title subject.