Psychological thrillers—the hidden backbone of books, movies, and TV—have shaped the 21st century’s expectations for deeper meaning. The majority of books, movies and shows revolve around the idea of suspense.
You know there’s going to be climax where the couple breakup, get back together and the epitome of every love song written by John Legend plays in the background even if it’s a book. You just automatically start singing his songs. There will always be that moment in a mediocre suspense when you know who’s the murderer or rapist and the author/director makes it so obvious you just want to flip to the end.
Then comes the spectacular psychological thrillers that you love to hate. You sit there for days still trying to wrap your mind around what you just saw or read. You sit there pondering all your life choices, what makes you who you are, and how you will turn out in the next couple of decades. The suspense leaves you questioning everything—questioning all of humanity. Questioning what truly makes us who we are. What makes us unique. They test who the characters are, and we start testing who we are.
That’s what The Girl on the Train does.
The book/movie follows three women’s lives and how they are intertwined with one another in the worst possible way. Affairs. You meet Rachel first, a destructive alcoholic still pinning for her ex-husband and his current life. Megan, the neighbors to Rachel’s old house is introduced as a woman with the perfect life, the perfect house, and perfect husband. Anna, Rachel’s ex’s current wife and ex-mistress, is shown last. She has a child named Evie and he coincidentally her nanny is Megan, her new neighbor.
Throughout the movie you see the destruction of all the women’s lives. You witness Rachel threaten her husband when they were previously married, responding in violence in times of high emotions. Her need to have a baby, but her inability to produce one has caused her the utmost unhappiness, leading to her husband cheating on her with their realtor, Anna.
Anna lives a life of unconscious contentment—nothing more, nothing less. She has a child and the perfect husband, but remains in constant unhappiness.
Megan, a woman who found her drowned child in the bathtub, has major underlying issues. She cheats on her husband because he pushes her to have a child, unknowingly opening the old wounds of her lost child.
These women are surrounded by men who control them. Megan’s husband appears to be abusive even though she likes it. Rachel’s ex has convinced her she’s the violent one, the abusive one. In reality it’s him. She gets blackout drunk and has very little recollection of what she does when she’s inebriated. She starts to realize he’s the one that makes scenes in public, hits her when she’s drunk, and controls her every move. Once she understands she isn’t at complete fault for their failed marriage she remembers.
Megan is found dead. Megan, a strong woman who has been looking for an outlet for her pain since the loss of her child, finally found a happiness. She’s pregnant and keeping it. It’s her new chance to start over, to love something that’s truly hers until it’s all taken away from her in an instant.
Children and marriage are major theme in the book and movie, a theme we can all relate to because we have all thought about both at one point in our lives. Anna has a child and a marriage based on lies, deception, and pain. Megan hasn’t been in control of her life since the day her child died in her arms. Rachel can’t have the one thing she’s always wanted—a family.
We witness the destruction of three women very different from one another, but similar in so many ways. They all want something, something they may not even be able to define, and they can’t have it.
We see their reactions, how they behave, how they fall because of the wants they cannot achieve. Megan achieves her true want a few seconds before she dies.
Rachel sobers up, finds her purpose and tries to solve a murder she may have committed. She’s believes she could have done it because of all the memories she has of her past behaviors—although they aren’t real memories. Her husband fed her lies, convinced her she was dangerous.
Anna uncovers the truth about her husband. He’s been cheating with Megan, her trusted neighbor and previous nanny.
We see these women discover the truth behind their lives. we see them tested. We see them react to circumstances no one should have to be a part of.
When the true murderer is revealed, Anna and Rachel fight back. Their purpose is to make sure no other woman must endure the lives they have been given, the lives they thought they wanted.
Once the movie ends, we question the underlying idea that women are strong, brilliant, brave no matter how many times others try to tear them down or life tries to ruin their existence. We see to women, who hate each other, come together and defeat a man they both loved at one point in their lives. we see two women strive to rid the world of the evil they thought existed only in Rachel.
We ask what we would do in that situation. What would we do if we were Anna? Would we watch Rachel murder Anna’s husband? Would we twist the cork deeper into his neck because he’s an abusive, lying scumbag? Or would we protect ourselves and blame Rachel? Watch her go to prison for a crime you deem acceptable under the circumstances? What would you do if you were any of these women?
That is what a psychological thriller is supposed to do. Make you question everything, even your own mind.
