Ladies in Retirement

In Victorian England, in a house on the edge of the marshes, Ellen works as companion to a retired stage performer and brings her two mentally unwell sisters to stay for a while. The sisters do not leave, the mistress of the house objects, and Ellen makes a decision. Charles Vidor adapted a stage play and kept the setting deliberately closed, so that with the fog, the marsh and the oven the house is almost a character. Ida Lupino plays Ellen as neither good nor evil but as someone crushed by obligation. What makes it interesting is that it dwells not on the killing but on the ordinary life afterwards: breakfast is made, a neighbour calls, the lie grows. Who it is for: viewers who like period suspense and psychological drama built in one location. Who it is not for: anyone wanting a fast thriller, since this tightens patiently.