Jeremy Crawford deserves the same scrutiny as Lowen and Verity because he makes decisions that help turn this horrible situation into something much worse. He encourages Lowen into his life. He crosses boundaries with her while his wife is upstairs. Eventually, he kills Verity. Being handsome and heartbroken gives him a sympathetic introduction, but it should only get him so far.

And yet it is remarkably easy to spend most of Verity watching the women. Anne Hathaway moves her eyes and we start investigating. Dakota Johnson tries on a dress and suddenly we have a complete theory about Lowen’s motives. Meanwhile, Josh Hartnett gets to look tired and concerned.

I think that imbalance is one of the more interesting things in the film. Jeremy benefits from our eagerness to decide which woman deserves our trust. While we are busy choosing, he gets rather comfortable in the role of the man who has suffered enough.

Major spoilers follow.

That First Meeting Buys Him a Lot of Goodwill

The shirt is a good place to start.

Lowen has just witnessed a horrific accident. She is shaken and covered in blood when Jeremy helps her clean up and gives her something to wear. Under those circumstances, a calm person offering practical help would make quite an impression.

Hartnett makes the kindness look easy. Jeremy seems attentive without needing to make a fuss about it. You can understand why Lowen would remember how he made her feel during an awful few minutes.

Then she discovers that this same man is connected to the writing job she is being offered. Their encounter acquires the flattering shape of fate. The man who helped her could also be part of the opportunity that changes her career.

Well, that is convenient.

It also means Jeremy enters the rest of the story with a head start. Lowen already has a reason to like him. So do we. When something later feels strange, that first impression sits there offering an excuse on his behalf.

He seemed so decent earlier. There must be an explanation.

He Knows the House She Is Walking Into

Lowen arrives at the Crawford home with a job to do and very little understanding of the people living there. Jeremy has years of history she can only learn about in pieces.

That difference matters. He can explain a situation before she has enough information to question the explanation. Even an ordinary reassurance carries weight when it comes from the person who appears to know what is happening.

For Lowen, professional flattery makes the arrangement even harder to assess. She has been chosen to continue a successful author’s work. Jeremy encourages her. His attention reaches her at a point when being wanted probably feels rather good.

I can sympathise with that. A struggling writer offered money and recognition is going to listen. Add an attractive man who seems interested in her and clear thinking becomes a slightly more ambitious expectation.

But Jeremy is participating in all of this. He helps welcome her into a deeply troubled household and then becomes romantically involved with her.

The Dress Bothers Me More Than It Should

Jeremy suggesting that Lowen wear one of Verity’s dresses is the sort of detail that becomes worse the longer you sit with it.

The obvious thing to discuss is Lowen. Wearing another woman’s clothes while becoming attracted to her husband gives us plenty to work with. Envy, curiosity, the appeal of briefly looking like someone whose life seems more desirable.

But imagine being the husband making that suggestion.

Your wife is still in the house. Her clothes belong to a life you shared with her. You are encouraging another woman to put them on.

There is a peculiar intimacy to that, and Jeremy treats it as something they can simply do. His approval helps make the whole situation feel acceptable. Lowen gets permission from the very person whose involvement makes it uncomfortable.

That is why I struggle with readings that place all the possessiveness on her. She may be imagining herself in Verity’s position, but Jeremy is helping with the wardrobe.

It is a small moment beside the film’s bigger shocks. Still, I would put it fairly high on the list of things worth remembering about him.

Feeling Sorry for Him Becomes a Habit

Jeremy’s losses are devastating. Of course Lowen feels for him. An audience would have to work quite hard to feel nothing for a parent carrying that kind of grief.

The difficulty is what happens after sympathy becomes our usual way of looking at him.

His attraction to Lowen can start to seem like something he deserves. He has been through so much. Perhaps she can make him happy. Perhaps this is his chance to have a little comfort again.

I caught myself thinking about how familiar that story is. Give us a grieving man and a woman who understands him, and we know roughly where the emotional signposts are pointing.

Except Verity is still there.

Jeremy’s marriage remains part of the situation even when it becomes inconvenient to the romance. His wife’s condition gives him responsibilities. Lowen’s arrival creates choices. He makes those choices with an agency that deserves attention.

Grief explains why he might want to escape his life for a while. It leaves us with plenty to discuss about how he goes about it.

We Should Probably Spend Longer on the Murder

The ending generates so much discussion about the manuscript that Jeremy’s actual behaviour can almost become a side issue.

He kills Verity. Lowen helps.

Then the letter arrives and everyone starts sorting the evidence into competing piles. Was the manuscript a confession? Was the letter another manipulation? Which version of Verity should we believe?

Those are fair questions. I still want to stay in that bedroom for a moment.

Jeremy believes he has learned something unbearable about his wife and responds by killing her. The film gives us reasons to understand his rage. What he does with that rage should affect how we see him from then on.

Even if you believe every dreadful thing in the manuscript, Lowen has witnessed something she will have to carry into their relationship. She knows how far he can go when he believes his anger is justified.

That would stay with me considerably longer than his kindness at the beginning.

The Letter Leaves Lowen With a Question About Him

Verity’s letter offers a different account of the manuscript and claims Jeremy had already tried to kill her. The film leaves room to argue about whether she is telling the truth.

What interests me is the position that puts Lowen in.

Taking the letter seriously means reconsidering the man she has chosen. She would have to revisit his explanations and wonder what he knew during conversations she remembers very differently. That is a much harder task when your future is already wrapped around him.

Believing Verity is monstrous gives Lowen a version of events she can live with more easily. Jeremy remains the grieving father. Their actions become something she can explain to herself.

The alternative follows her home.

I wish discussions of Verity gave that discomfort as much attention as they give Hathaway’s suspicious glances. Jeremy has a personality and motives of his own. He is capable of kindness, and we also see him behave appallingly. Every part of that belongs in the conversation.

By the end, the question I keep coming back to is painfully ordinary. If Lowen were your friend, would you feel comfortable watching her leave with him?

I would have a few things to say before she got in the car.