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Shirley (15) + recorded Q&A

— ,Barbican Cinema 1
elisabeth moss as shirley jackson in a forest telling Odessa Young to shush

Going nowhere with a novel about the disappearance of a local girl, writer Shirley Jackson gets the inspiration she needs when two young newlyweds come to stay.

When we first meet Shirley (Elisabeth Moss), soon to become America’s queen of horror fiction, she seems to be no such thing; just a sad, drunken shut-in, married to a cheating English professor (Michael Stuhlbarg) and blocked as a writer.

But with the arrival of Rose (Odessa Young) and her teaching-assistant husband Fred (Logan Lerman), Shirley reveals herself as a far crueller and more sophisticated creature, seducing the innocent girl into becoming her companion and accomplice in the new mystery novel she is writing. Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf is clearly a touchstone, but Josephine Decker’s psychodrama goes further, blurring the boundaries of biopic and fiction in exploring the cruel forces that can feed creativity.

Additional screenings of Shirley, without the recorded Q&A, are available to book.

Tagged with: Cinema New releases

US 2020 Dir Josephine Decker 107 min

 

We’ve brought in measures to keep you safe, in line with government guidelines. 

Under new guidelines, we’ve fewer available seats in our cinema and fewer screenings so we can clean between shows. You can only sit in the same seating cluster as someone from your own household (or support bubble) and we ask you to not swap seats so we can maintain a safe distance between you and other groups.

Tickets must be booked online in advance.

Reviews

‘A perversely entertaining take on a brief period of Shirley Jackson’s life gives the star [Elisabeth Moss] one of her most daring roles to date‘
Benjamin Lee, The Guardian
‘Part psychological horror, part erotic thriller, with none of the conventions of a biopic, Shirley will keep you enthralled (and guessing) until the very last second.‘
Terri White, Empire

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Barbican Cinema 1