Then, uncannily, she turns back to Rose and says, 'They didn't tell me you were pregnant.' Later, at dinner, she escalates things considerably, demanding that Rose tell everyone 'about your shotgun wedding.' Rose excuses herself and tells Fred that Shirley is 'a monster' and that they need to leave. 'You're all the same,' says Shirley, waving her off. It's an inopportune moment for Rose to chase after and introduce herself as one of the new houseguests, but she does so anyway, only to be drunkenly rebuffed. At first, Moss's appearance and clipped diction seem inspired by Bette Davis and her frumpy turn in Now, Voyager-an impression so strong that it's clear, had Susan Sarandon not already scored such a tour de force as Davis in Ryan Murphy's Feud, Moss would have been a clear choice for the role.Īn innocent question about what she's working on next (the answer: 'A novella called none of your goddamned business!') causes Shirley to bolt.

Jackson is first glimpsed by a handheld camera jostling its way through a party crowd, circling the armchair from which she holds court. It's a residency that includes taking up residence-at least temporarily-with Hyman and his wife, the suddenly notorious writer Jackson (Elisabeth Moss). The frisky travelers are Rose and Fred Nemser (Odessa Young and Logan Lerman), on their way to Bennington College, where Fred is slated to begin a prestigious postdoctoral position assisting the renowned literary critic and professor Stanley Edgar Hyman (Michael Stuhlbarg). In reality, 'The Lottery' was indeed a scandal, but instead of delivering titillation, it prompted readers to write the author and publisher to ask if the human sacrifices were still being practiced, and, if so, where might they go to watch? The idea of a mother being stoned to death by her own children-the only thing we're told about the story-is apparently such a hot mental image that it demands an instant response.Īudiences unfamiliar with 'The Lottery' will be forgiven if they assume Jackson was an unusually effective and inspiring author of violent pornography, and Josephine Decker's new film Shirley doesn't get into the story in sufficient detail to disabuse the notion. On a Vermont-bound passenger train in the summer of 1948, a young woman experiences a powerful aphrodisiac rush after reading Shirley Jackson's story 'The Lottery' in The New Yorker, so much so that she insists her husband join her immediately in the train's toilet for some frenetic coupling. Index of Title, Month and Page sorted by Author Fantasy and Science Fiction: Film and Television by David J.

The Missing Girl by Shirley Jackson