Firstly, one could argue I am a bit biased because I grew up taking the Metro North into The City. But if that were poorly done I would HATE the film, so no I am not biased. What is so compelling about the direction of this film is that the train is a character in the film. Featured when the nanny is speaking to the therapist, it is a constant backdrop and very subtly done. I did NOT like when the nanny/whore character said "We were fucking" to her therapist I found that unnecessary and crass. So that part of the script really could have been written better. The Latino therapist has an Arabic name-that is weird because he starts screaming in Spanish "what do you want from me!" He is clearly from Latin America. Does not fit.
The most wonderful part of this film and why it is of such great import is that a victim of narcissistic abuse exposes her covert, psychopathic narcissist abuser. And the film shows just how the narcissist pretends to be altruistic to the world and to even those in his life during the love bombing phase right before the discard. "don't I always make everything all right." I want to throw up when he says that. We never suspect him becasue he is always wearing his superficial mask of charm convincing us he is such a calm, "good guy". We think Rachel is the lunatic becasue she is so emotional from all the abuse by him which she has endured. No one believes her. She gets justice but it hardly ever happens for those abused by a narcissist. The narcissist always pays because she is miserable inside; they only live for the good opinion and envy of others. They live to make money and they have no personal goals for their lives; it is all to meet the status quo so others will respect the false self they created. They are coreless and as we see in the film, they lie like rugs. Pathological lying is a sign of narcissism. This film beautifully illustrates what narcissists do to their victims. They gaslight them and convince them they are the crazy ones all the while the narcissist is a psychopath, completely out of touch and dangerous. They abuse those they trap in their web and thankfully this film exposed them. Another film to watch is Ordinary People about a horrible Narcissist mother who drives her teenage son to attempt suicide- also in this film a happy ending ensues- but this is almost never the case with narcissists only the scapegoats have the strength to leave everyone else lives out their lives miserably with the odious narcissist-there is no happy ending for the rest.