[Editor’s Note: the following contains spoilers for “Last Night in Soho”]
We’ve all been there: surrounded on all sides by smartphones, flashy fashion trends, and an overbearing social media presence, one can easily feel tired of our 21st-century world and nostalgic for decades of the past. Growing up, I would watch films like Sixteen Candles and yearn for the fashion and culture of the 1980s. Eloise (played by Thomasin McKenzie), the bright-eyed protagonist of Edgar Wright’s latest film, Last Night in Soho, certainly feels this nostalgic desire— but in her case, for 1960s London.
The film opens on Eloise dancing and singing to Peter & Gordon’s “A World Without Love” in a dress made of newspaper showcasing her bedroom— essentially a shrine to the Swinging Sixties. This opening scene establishes not only the critical importance of Eloise’s ‘60s nostalgia to her personality and the film’s plot but also the key musical elements of the film. Edgar Wright is no stranger to music in his films— his 2017 film Baby Driver is driven by music, from the plot to the carefully aligned choreography of the fighting scenes. Last Night in Soho continues this streak, with a killer soundtrack that stays true to the time period while also subverting Eloise’s nostalgic, rose-colored view of the 1960s as the film progresses.
A small-town girl with big-city fashion dreams, Eloise is finally given her big break when she gets accepted into fashion school in London. Consistently warned against London being “too much” for some young girls (including her late mother, we eventually find out), Eloise is determined to live out her dream of becoming a fashion designer in the city. The first part of the film plays out as a coming-of-age tale – Eloise settles into her school, eventually ditching the dorms for an old-fashioned flat in Soho that’s much more her style.
However, during her first night in the new flat, she is mysteriously transported into 1960s London, simultaneously viewing from the outside and also living through the perspective of Sandie (Anya Taylor-Joy), a tantalizing aspiring singer who appears to embody everything Eloise has adored about the time period. This beginning sequence is characterized by mesmerizing visuals, gorgeous fashion pieces, and perfect musical choices— including a spectacular acapella version of Petula Clark’s “Downtown” by Anya Taylor Joy. A captivating dance sequence in which Sandie and Eloise continuously and seamlessly switch places with one another was also especially memorable (and done in almost one take with only a single edit in the whole scene, according to Edgar Wright). Eloise continues to routinely slip through time, fixating on Sandie’s glamorous lifestyle and further building on her adoration for the Swinging Sixties.
We see some red flags along the way, including a too-interested taxi driver that provokes fear and discomfort in Eloise and audience members alike, but overall, I found myself questioning why Last Night in Soho was labelled a psychological thriller for nearly the first hour of the film.
This quickly changes. The dreamy, glamorized, and downright beautiful beginning of the film quickly shifts into something much darker. As Eloise becomes entrenched in Sandie’s story, she soon finds out that what she thought was a fashionable, fun, and empowering era for women is actually chock-full of the same misogyny, sexism, and abuse of the 21st century — if not more. Sandie is manipulated, degraded, and ultimately forced into sex work. Eloise experiences this trauma right along with her, which blends into a sort of cross-generational female allyship as Eloise tries to help Sandie escape the horror that her life becomes. The more Eloise slips between time periods, the more the lines between the two womens’ stories begin to blur — and both Eloise and the audience start to question reality.
In the end, Eloise learns that Sandie is a lot closer to her 21st-century world than she previously thought, and so are the men that abused her. The suspenseful and shocking ending made me question the feminist message that had been building the entire film— but at the same time, it added layers of complexity to the rape-revenge trope that is often glossed over in film. I also found myself wishing the plot lines around Eloise’s late mother and her mental illness were further developed (or not added at all, considering the complexity of the storyline already).
Overall, Last Night in Soho was an incredibly visually and musically appealing cross-genre film that kept me captivated for a whole hour and 56 minutes. Stunning performances by leading ladies Thomasin McKenzie and Anya Taylor-Joy, as well as brilliant editing, cinematography, and mise-en-scene, thoroughly impressed me. I found myself questioning reality at times, while also questioning my own sense of nostalgia for the past. While we love to glamorize and glorify the fashion and culture of the past, we also have to remember the progress we have made as a society along the way and stay grounded in our own realities.