Yikes, Girl: Eilis Totally Chose The Wrong Man in ‘Brooklyn’

Did you know that Brooklyn is now available to watch on HBO Go and HBO Now? Well it is, and you definitely should. Last year’s Best Picture Oscar nominee is a beautiful film that sadly did not win the top prize, but certainly ranked among the year’s best films.
The film tells the story of Eilis (Saoirse Ronan), a young woman from Ireland who ships off to the United States to find work, love and a new life. She leaves behind her mother and sister, but not much else, including a job she’s quite happy to resign from.

At first, she’s homesick and unsure of all that the US does and does not have to offer, even though she has a good job in a fancy department store. At a dance she meets Tony (Emory Cohen), very much an Italian Brooklyn man. Today, we would describe him as “thirsty”. He’s literally staring at her from across the room with a smirk on his face, and wastes no time sauntering up to her the second she is available. While his actions never quite cross into stalker territory, he immediately falls for her and pursues her like a gentleman, for the most part. Soon enough, Eilis starts to fall for him as well, and tells him she loves him too, even though he was expecting her to say the opposite.
Tony promises her a house in Long Island and the two secretly marry before Eilis heads back to Ireland for a month to mourn the death of her sister. She’s there to spend time with her mother, mostly, but when her old pals drag her out for a night, she’s introduced to Jim (Domhnall Gleeson). At first, Eilis is annoyed that she’s found herself on a double date, and is quite sassy, aloof and really wants nothing to do with him, even though he is the definition of a “catch”. He turns out to be incredibly sweet, and wants to be with Eilis. He could offer her a better version of her life in Ireland than she experienced before, while still keeping her close to her mother and friends.

Ok, here comes the spoiler alert: go watch the movie now if you want to know who she chooses. And if you already know, let’s talk about why it was the wrong choice.

Tony loves Eilis SO much. Like, a medically dangerous amount. He’s obsessed with her the second he sees her, and it only continues to grow from there. Meeting her outside her school to walk her home, taking her to Coney Island, introducing her to the family. They’re fairly typical actions in the courting process. But he’s different from Eilis. He’s brash and hyper to her demure and quiet. Those qualities can find a way to mesh, but the real head-scratcher is why he’s so surprised by her. Every time he asks her out or tells her how much he cares about her, he can’t believe it when she voices her reciprocal feelings. He has to ask her if she will even “consider” moving to Long Island to start their family. He’s so unrelenting in pursuing her, and yet so unsure once he actually has her.
There’s a lot of insecurity about him. In modern times, a guy like Tony might make one suspicious. He throws up a lot of red flags that today, should not be brushed off. He can be unnecessarily overbearing, and yet thought for sure Eilis was going to dump him when she really just wanted to say she loves him too. He responds with a “Holy shit!” and tears of disbelief in his eyes. Sure, she’s not quite the open book that he is, but he couldn’t read her enough to know how much she cared for him?
He also requests that they get married before she goes back to Ireland, “Because if we don’t then I’ll go crazy.” O RLY? He doesn’t trust that she will return to the United States and it’s super territorial of him to make this request. Even when Eilis asks if she can promise, he replied, “If you can promise, you can easily do this.”

The thing about Tony is that yes, he will take care of Eilis. In fact, making her happy does seem to be his first priority. He’s got a decent job as a plumber, and he can’t wait to start a family with her. We see at City Hall, where the couple gets married, as well as his interactions with his own younger brother, that he is really good with children, and seems to be a genuinely fun guy. He’s not a villain or a bad choice at all.
Sigh, but Jim. Jim has this unassuming nature to himself. He’s not pushy, and knows the right times to be sensitive with Eilis. He’s unafraid to show her he cares about her, even in times when she might snap back at him. He’s also a feminist, encouraging her to chase after her professional dreams instead of just popping out kids in the suburbs. He’s a small town guy who makes it known that he’s impressed with her picking up and going to the US. But most importantly, he cares about her family and and the town where they’re from, and could provide her with a comfortable, if familiar, life.

After Eilis’ former boss Miss Kelly, still a miserable bitch, learns of her secret marriage and threatens to reveal it, Eilis does make the right choice in telling her off and deciding to go back to the US. That would piss off anyone enough to get on the next boat. But had Miss kelly kept her stupid mouth shut, Eilis may have stayed in Ireland. She tells Jim, “I wish it had been like this before I went. There was nothing here for me before. Now I have a job, and…” trailing off before she can reference him. But he knows. And we know. The way these two look at each other and the easy chemistry they have when they’re together speaks for itself.
Jim makes small changes, to his wardrobe and hair routine, the exact things that Eilis made fun of at first, that he knows will please her. He’s subtle yet precise in the way he shows his feelings for her. He’s also polite and handles her handful of a mother well. Even when he tells her he wants her to stay, he says, “I don’t want to bombard you.”

Meanwhile, Tony’s doing exactly that, writing Eilis a million letters and freaking out because she’s only written back once. Could you imagine this dude with texts? He also tells her that, “I think of you most minutes of most days” even when he is at Dodgers’ games. Come on, that’s a little cringey. Also, this guy’s obsession with the Dodgers doesn’t take long to become annoying. And it should be noted, everything with him is an obsession, and not a casual enjoyment.
Well, good luck to Eilis who heads back to Tony, a guy that will make a perfectly fine husband. And Jim will find a gal, he’ll be ok. But it’s the scenes when Jim and Eilis are in the same space where you’ll catch yourself smiling at the screen. Tony’s fine. When Eilis is cold, he’ll buy her 100 brand new quilts and guarantee that she is never cold. But Jim, well Jim would give her one ultra-soft, comfortable quilt that he’s had his whole life, the kind that you don’t wake up in the middle of the night and immediately want to kick off. Either way, snuggle up with whatever you want to and watch Brooklyn again, because the love story is too beautiful to even get upset about the understandable, yet terrible, decision Eilis makes. #TeamJim
[Watch Brooklyn on HBO Go]