Shirley

Shirley is a 2020 American biographical drama film directed by Josephine Decker and written by Sarah Gubbins, based on the 2014 novel of the same name by Susan Scarf Merrell, which formed a "largely fictional story" around novelist Shirley Jackson during the time period she was writing her 1951 novel Hangsaman. The film stars Elisabeth Moss as Jackson, with Michael Stuhlbarg, Odessa Young, and Logan Lerman in supporting roles. Martin Scorsese serves as an executive producer. Shirley had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2020, where Decker won the Special Jury Award for Auteur Filmmaking. The film was theatrically released in the United States on June 5, 2020, to positive reviews, with praise for Moss's performance. Plot Fred and Rose Nemser are newlyweds relocating to Bennington College for Fred's job as a lecturer. Fred is about to work for Stanley Hyman while Rose, still a student, is already enthralled by the work of Stanley's wife, Shirley Jackson, writer of “The Lottery”, the dark short story which shocked readers of The New Yorker when it was published on June 26, 1948. Minutes after their first meeting, Shirley asks Rose about her (not yet announced) pregnancy, saying “I’m a witch, didn’t you know?” Soon after, Stanley asks Rose to help with menial jobs around the house because Shirley is struggling to write after suffering another bout of agoraphobia. Fred and Rose reluctantly assent and move into the house. Rose realizes that she has unwittingly agreed to serve as the family housekeeper. She also sees the pathology of Stanley and Shirley's marriage: in his worship of Shirley’s genius as a writer, Stanley enables her drinking and her lethargy; in turn, Shirley tolerates Stanley’s posturing and pomposity, and she winks at his serial love affairs.