Shirley

Shirley follows a winter in the life of renowned horror writer Shirley Jackson and her husband Stanley Hyman as they welcome a young couple into their home. The couple, Rose Nemser and her boyfriend Fred, arrive seeking shelter while Rose searches for stability and direction. Rather than a simple houseguest tale, the film probes how a writer's obsessions spill over into daily life, blurring fact and fiction. As the days grow tenser, Jackson's sharp intelligence and sly humor begin to influence the visitors and the visitors in turn challenge her authority. The result is a tense, intelligent portrait of creative pressure, power, and artistic aspiration.

Directed by Josephine Decker from a screenplay by Sarah Gubbins, the film adapts Susan Scarf Merrell's novel Shirley and was released by Neon in 2020.

Elisabeth Moss's portrayal of Shirley Jackson drew particular notice for its restraint and menace, while Decker's controlled, claustrophobic mise en scene heightened the film's unsettling tone. The movie sparked discussion about the reputations of women writers and the way fame can alter intimate dynamics.

Critics generally praised the mood, dialogue and the blurring of biography with fiction. The film asks how creativity operates under pressure and who pays the price when ambition collides with domestic life, leaving a lingering sense of unease.