The Rule of Jenny Pen (2024) - A Guest Review by Adrian Brain

With John Lithgow and Geoffrey Rush playing complex, well developed characters, my eyes never left the screen watching this very dark but funny film about ageing, disability and dementia.

Set in New Zealand, Geoffrey Rush plays a former high court judge who suffers a stroke and is admitted to a care home for the elderly. He is wheelchair bound but reasonably compos mentis, unlike some of his fellow residents. The Judge is distraught to find he has to share a room with Tony, a former star All Black, who is now only partially mobile and has incontinence problems. 

After an horrific accident, we find out that this care home isn't the safest of places. To cap it all, fully able-bodied but seemingly demented resident Crealy (John Lithgow, imperious), rules the other residents by mental and physical abuse; stealing other residents food, pushing them over, and eventually far worse. In particular, Crealy has it in for Tony and turns up to bully him and the Judge every night. Crealy has a “companion”, an eyeless doll he wears on his hand when he is tormenting - this is the Jenny Pen of the title, and adds an extra layer of menace and cruelty to his actions.

The Judge tries to stop it all by reporting to the staff, but Crealy is too smart to be caught out, so the Judge decides that when he gets out he will bring the full force of the law down on Crealy. Tragically, the Judge is unaware of his own rapid and physical cognitive decline, and is increasingly less able to defend himself from Crealy.

It is a pitch black scenario, the subject of the film being the inability of the elderly and infirm to be properly heard - they are just “managed” as best they can be. Sometimes the intent of the film gets too muddied by the events though. There are some wonderfully surreal moments and some nicely subtle cinematography (watch how the light moves behind Jenny Pen’s eyes), and the film evoked a lot of conversation. My wife was reminded of “Whatever Happened To Baby Jane” and I thought it was like a bleak version of Bubba Ho-Tep, where the elderly were unable to rage against the dying of the light. There are numerous nods to Hitchcock too. The final 15 minutes or so are a bit stop-start though, and it takes an age to fully meet Crealy at the beginning. A re-edit could go a long way to fix these problems.

Rush & Lithgow completely dominate the proceedings, perhaps almost too much, but they also provide the most compelling reason to watch this. Check out the trailer & if it appeals, give it a watch.