THE RULE OF JENNY PEN (2024)

Studio:   IFC Films/Shudder
Director: James Ashcroft
Writer:   Eli Kent, James Ashcroft
Producer: Catherine Fitzgerald, Orlando Stewart
Stars:    John Lithgow, Geoffrey Rush, George Henare

Review Score:

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Summary:

In an elder care facility, a partially paralyzed judge must match wits with a disturbed man who routinely abuses and torments other residents with a haunting hand puppet.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

After suffering a sudden stroke in his courtroom, arrogant New Zealand judge Stefan Mortensen begins living at the Royal Pine Mews elder care home. Stefan soon learns the facility is terrorized by Dave Crealy, a former longtime staff member who became a mentally disturbed resident, who routinely abuses and torments elderly residents with a hand puppet named Jenny Pen.

Stefan’s first direct encounter with Dave comes when Dave sneaks into Stefan’s room during the night to drench his lap with a bottle of urine. Consistent with how Dave repeatedly gets away with his acts without being observed or disciplined by staff, home manager Madeleine Shepard questions Stefan’s claim that Dave was responsible. Fearful of Dave’s ongoing torment, Stefan’s roommate Tony Garfield, a former rugby player, refuses to corroborate Stefan’s story.

Following repeated instances of Dave’s bullying behavior, Stefan attempts to file a formal complaint only to learn from Madeleine that Dave already filed a complaint against Stefan for flinging pudding in his face. Dave continues to harass Stefan by taunting him about developing dementia and kicking him under the table in the dining hall.

Dave again visits Stefan and Tony’s room to taunt Tony with the Jenny Pen puppet. When Stefan refuses Dave’s directive to pledge fealty to the puppet, the two men spit at each other.

Dave unlocks an outside gate and tricks a dementia-afflicted woman into leaving the property. The woman is later found dead from falling and drowning in a shallow puddle nearby.

While a caregiver bathes Dave in a community shower, Stefan sneaks into Dave’s room. Stefan secretly empties all of Dave’s asthma inhalers. During Dave’s next asthma attack, he finds all of his inhalers exhausted before collapsing, but he survives.

As retaliation, Dave violently tips Stefan out of his wheelchair, forcing him to watch as he begins undressing a helpless woman. Stefan manages to get to his feet and strike Dave with his cane. Caregivers rush in to take Stefan away.

Dave confronts Stefan in his recovery room. Unable to fight back due to his debilitated state, Stefan finally succumbs to Dave’s pressure and licks Dave’s wrist as part of his reluctant pledge to Jenny Pen’s rule.

No longer willing to withstand Dave’s abuse, Tony and Stefan lure Dave into a laundry room where they suffocate him to death with linens. Stefan burns the hand puppet in a firepit outside. Normal life resumes at Royal Pine Mews.

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Review:

After suffering a sudden stroke in his courtroom, arrogant judge Stefan Mortensen (Geoffrey Rush) gets a taste of humility when he ends up at Royal Pine Mews elder care home. Whether their minds are simple, or afflicted with Alzheimer’s, Stefan sees himself as above everyone else in the facility. To him, this is only a temporary stay until he regains more mobility, so there’s little incentive for Stefan to play the part of an agreeable old fellow who gives two flying figs for backgammon, pudding, or his roommate’s blather about a Tom Clancy novel.

Stefan would prefer to go unnoticed, and therefore unbothered, but that’s not possible here. This roost is ruled by Dave Crealy (John Lithgow), or rather his constant companion, a hand puppet named Jenny Pen. On a daily basis, Dave physically abuses and mentally torments other residents who are either too timid to stand up to Dave’s brutal bullying, or too unaware to see Dave’s exploitative manipulation for what it is.

Stefan quickly realizes the danger Dave and his demon-like doll present, but he’s not in ideal shape for showing him who the superior person may be. After Dave adds him to his list of people to harass and harangue, Stefan finds staff members unwilling to do anything about Dave, or take Stefan’s claims about Dave’s unsettling behavior seriously. Hobbled by his partial paralysis as well as an unreliable brain that’s having a harder time holding on to reality, Stefan’s willingness to match wits eventually escalates into a battle for survival against a truly disturbed individual.

The primary plot of “The Rule of Jenny Pen” concerns this head-to-head faceoff between Stefan and Dave, making the movie’s primary appeal the matchup between Geoffrey Rush and John Lithgow. These are two vaunted, veteran actors with extensive experience embodying malicious villains and crusty curmudgeons. As one would expect, they tap the wealth of those talents to deliver peak performances, creating fascinating conflicts while clearly relishing their roles as men who menace in varied ways.

Given how “The Rule of Jenny Pen” hinges on their interactions, it might come as a surprise that Stefan and Dave’s first direct exchange doesn’t come until 20 minutes into the movie. Antsy viewers could have their patience tested prior to this, while the buildup busies itself by establishing the environment with scenes of sponge baths, blinking smoke detectors, and bedridden invalids spitting up spoon-fed mush. Take it from someone who has had two parents in two different nursing homes. Seeing seniors seated solemnly for a mediocre guitarist’s overenthusiastic performance, discussing trivial topics in the dining room, and dealing with obliviously condescending caregivers is essential for understanding how banal routines are meant to mask the hopelessness and isolation no one wants to face in the late stages of life. Outside appearances notwithstanding, Stefan feels like he’s serving time in prison, and he’s not wrong for making the comparison.

Driven by the spoken and unspoken drama that develops between Stefan and Dave, “The Rule of Jenny Pen” presents its narrative almost like a play you could picture on a stage with a small troupe of actors. Limited to one location and a tight trio for its core cast, the movie never looks like a theatrical production translated for the screen, however, thanks to how director James Ashcroft spreads out the space. In addition to more than two dozen credited cast members, another 50 names appear as residents, rugby players, and additional caregivers to give Royal Pine Mews the real feel of a working assisted living facility. A smaller-scale indie would never bother using so many bodies to build out a little world, but “The Rule of Jenny Pen” takes great care with its details, even if some initially appear to be deceptively unimportant.

Framed as a fable concerning elder abuse, “The Rule of Jenny Pen” deals in far broader themes about bullying, self-respect, and independence. Perhaps the greatest reasonable criticism is there’s arguably too little of Rush and Lithgow together, or maybe just not enough, fostering a sense that the film could cut more sharply if it dared to go deeper beyond its single serving of cerebral suspense.

Then again, maybe more would be overkill. The inherent terror of aging until one’s own body becomes a living tomb offers ample frights on its own. Multiply that with Lithgow wickedly licking his lips and Rush spewing vicious vitriol and “The Rule of Jenny Pen” fires off frightful suggestions from a bevy of barrels pointed directly at anyone who has ever felt unnoticed and unheard, horrors that are universal regardless of how many years someone has behind them.

Review Score: 70

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