Eileen Dunlop (Thomasin McKenzie) is a secretary at a home for bad boys, but is mistreated by her fellow workers. At home, it isn’t much better because her father, Jim (Shea Whigham), is a retired cop who beats her every night. At least she can fantasize over Randy (Owen Teague), a guard at the center.

Rebecca Saint John (Anne Hathaway) is the new therapist at the facility, working with Lee (Sam Nivola), who stabbed his father, something Eileen has dreamed of. 

One night, after work, the two women go to a bar together and share a kiss. On Christmas Eve, Rebecca invites Eileen to her home, but then tells her that it’s really Lee’s mother, Anne’s (Marin Ireland) home; she wants to coerce her into confessing to abusing her son and needs Eileen as a witness. While drugged, Anne reveals that she helped her husband to assault her son, as it gets her husband interested in her again.

Eileen and Rebecca dragged Anne into unconsciousness, and Eileen suggested framing Jim for the shooting of his mother. In love with Rebecca, Eileen wants to run away with her. They load Anne into the car, and Rebecca tells her that she will meet her. She doesn’t show up; Eileen takes the woman and leaves her in the car as it fills up with exhaust.

Directed by William Oldroyd and written by Luke Goebel and Ottessa Moshfegh, who wrote the book it’s based on, Eileen is as much about abuse as it is about being a modern giallo. Would you kill someone for Anne Hathaway? I mean, yeah.