Transfixed: Office Ms. | Conduct

At the center of the storm is Eleanor Vance (played with breathtaking, nerve-shredding intensity by Saoirse Ronan). Eleanor is the Office Manager—a title that belies her true role as the building’s nervous system. She knows which elevator groans on Tuesdays. She knows the thermostat settings that trigger a migraine in the CFO. She knows the precise shade of beige that keeps the middle managers placid. For seven years, she has been a ghost in the machine: hyper-competent, utterly invisible, and silently cataloging every microaggression, every stolen idea, every hand that has lingered a second too long on a junior associate’s shoulder.

This is a film that hates offices but loves tension. It will make you side-eye your HR department. It will make you reconsider every “check-in” meeting. And it will leave you with an uncomfortable, lingering question: If someone offered you the power to break the person who broke you, using only words and a conference room booking, would you really say no? transfixed: office ms. conduct

That is, until the arrival of Julian Cross (a revelatory, serpentine performance by Harris Dickinson). Julian is the new HR Consultant, brought in to “optimize workplace culture.” He is handsome in a way that suggests a LinkedIn headshot that has been digitally softened. He speaks in TED Talk aphorisms. He uses words like “synergy” and “pain point” without a hint of irony. Everyone is charmed. At the center of the storm is Eleanor