Transfixed: Office Ms. Conduct [updated] May 2026

Eleanor is transfixed. Not because she is afraid, but because she is watching her deepest fantasies enacted with surgical precision. She begins to follow Julian. She breaks into his locked HR files (a sequence of lock-picking with a bobby pin and a corporate ID card is a masterclass in tension). She discovers a notebook filled not with employee evaluations, but with intimate fears: Marcus fears his son’s disappointment. Derek fears his own mediocrity. Paul fears silence.

In her world, the margins have no mercy. transfixed: office ms. conduct

That is, until the arrival of Julian Cross (a revelatory, serpentine performance by Harris Dickinson). Julian is the new HR Consultant, brought in to “optimize workplace culture.” He is handsome in a way that suggests a LinkedIn headshot that has been digitally softened. He speaks in TED Talk aphorisms. He uses words like “synergy” and “pain point” without a hint of irony. Everyone is charmed. Eleanor is transfixed

The film’s genius is its ambiguity. We see Julian enter offices, close the frosted glass door, and sit across from his targets. We do not hear the conversations. We only see the aftermath: the twitching eye, the trembling hands, the sudden, inexplicable terror of a man who has never been told “no.” Chen directs these scenes like horror set-pieces, using the low hum of fluorescent lights and the distant shriek of a paper shredder as a sinister score. She breaks into his locked HR files (a