Verity

by Mike McGranaghan

Verity is an example of two hot trends in movies right now: adaptations of Colleen Hoover novels and semi-erotic thrillers led by a pair of top actresses. Like A Simple Favor and The Housemaid, the leads have an adversarial relationship in a story that offers plenty of wild twists. Dakota Johnson gets covered in blood within the first five minutes, and things get crazier from there.

She’s Lowen Ashleigh, a little-known author who gets the chance of a lifetime. Famed writer Verity Crawford (Anne Hathaway) is in a catatonic state in the wake of a car accident. Her publisher needs someone to ghost-write the next three books in her best-selling series. Verity’s husband Jeremy (Josh Hartnett) invites Lowen to stay at their remote Vermont home, where she can have access to his wife’s existing notes. All is not quite what it seems at the house, as Lowen realizes upon finding a thumb drive containing the writer’s secret journal.

Much, much more happens in the film, none of which will be spoiled here. As the plot progresses, it deals with themes like obsession, jealousy, and, most importantly, what can happen when we mine the darkest depths of our own minds. You may wonder how Anne Hathaway can have any major function, given that her character is confined to a wheelchair. She gets to do a lot in flashbacks that provide the history of Verity’s relationship to Jeremy. That backstory ties into Lowen’s situation to create an ongoing sense of intrigue. Something is definitely up, and suspense grows from wondering what it is.

At Verity’s core is an alluring idea. Verity Crawford is known for the darkness of her work – the descriptive violence, the demented things her creations say and do. In order to replicate her style, Lowen wants to understand her psychology. That attempt to get inside her head proves troubling. An age-old question asks how normal people, like Stephen King, can come up with such disturbing subject matter. What in their minds allows them to conceive sick, twisted concepts? Verity is an expert at it, but we – like Lowen – don’t know if she truly is a messed-up or person or just creatively brilliant. This mysterious quality is cleverly exploited by the movie, particularly at the end.

Anne Hathaway is incredible as Verity. During the flashbacks, she makes the woman a narcissistic figure who feeds off Jeremy’s sexual attraction to her. The Oscar winner leaves you with appropriately uncertain feelings about the person she’s portraying. Dakota Johnson is fantastic, too, conveying the loss of Lowen’s innocence the longer she stays in the Crawford home. Finding herself attracted to Jeremy is only part of how lines become blurred. Once again, Johnson proves to be an actress who can play interesting nuances.

As the man between the women, Josh Hartnett continues his recent career renaissance. Throughout the film, I kept thinking that I wasn’t sure if I trusted Jeremy, despite every appearance of him being a nice guy and a good father. He factors into the finale in a very specific way, and Hartnett effectively sets the stage for what’s required.

Director Michael Showalter (The Eyes of Tammy Faye) provides a sleek visual style befitting of the psychosexual elements. His willingness to tease us with ambiguity is appealing, too. Verity isn’t as narratively hardcore as, say, The Housemaid, relying instead on getting the audience to question reality. Yes, a lot of it is far-fetched, but suspending disbelief and allowing yourself to fall under the picture's seductive spell makes for two highly enjoyable hours.