SHIRLEY

OUT 4 JANUARY / CERT 15 / 107 MINS

Josephine Decker and Shirley Jackson were made for each other: for her latest trick, the experimental indie auteur explored the life and mind of the gothic-horror author — bending reality and teasing out delicious truths in order to make a biopic like never before. Shirley sees Elisabeth Moss give the performance of a lifetime as the titular woman on the verge, in terrific company alongside Michael Stuhlbarg as her husband Stanley, and Logan Lerman and Odessa Young as the unsuspecting couple who get caught in their web of secrets. It’s a dangerous, sensual picture, exploring the bond between Shirley and Young’s character Rose, as well as the trauma and psychological abuse caused by isolation, art, and writer’s block. People are thrilled to be horrible, everyone finds joy in hurting one another. It’s a dizzying paradox — and a towering triumph of a film.