BEN O’GORMAN
Don’t Worry Darling has received a staggering amount of press for what is essentially a mid budget little psychological thriller, but I’m not going to talk about all the drama that went on during the production.
So I will just review the film which I did think looked quite interesting when the trailer was released over the summer. I also really loved the director, Olivia Wilde’s first film Booksmart which came out in 2019. So I was excited to see what she’d do as a follow up.Don’t Worry Darling, is set in the desert town of Victory in the 1950s. We are introduced to young happily married couple Jack and Alice.
Jack works hard at the local factory, but it’s never quite clear what it is they do there. Alice is a wonderful housewife who spends the day by the pool, drinking cocktails with her mates and keeping the house spotless. When one of Alice’s friends has a breakdown she begins to ask questions about what they are doing there. This town where no one leaves and no one has any idea what anyone does for a living.
No one seems to be happy with her asking questions, especially Jack, but she keeps at it and over time she begins to see that all is not what it seems in Victory. It is quite obvious from the trailer this is a play on The Stepford Wives-type story. There are other influences here which I won’t mention as it would give awaysome aspects but it’s really not that hard to figure out.
For me though, the film was at its best in the first 40 minutes when Jack and Alice are young successful beautiful alcoholics living in a type of paradise. It started to lose me with its pretty obvious twists and turns. Essentially this is a feature length Black Mirror or Twilight Zone episode with A list actors.
Now to me that sounds great if it was one of the better episodes of those shows but sadly it is a little predictable and once the jig is up there isn’t much to stay for. I suppose my issue with the film is, it’s just not quite as clever as it thinks it is.
Its big reveal is telegraphed quite far in advance, and its so obvious I was wondering were they going to flip it, as in have a twist on top of the twist. When the twist did actually happened I thought, oh thats it? There’s nothing more?
Maybe I am being unfair as this is a genre I am quite familiar with. Certainly at the screening I was at, a group of teen girls were genuinely blown away by story and seemed to really enjoy it. The film’s best feature is its star, Florence Pugh — she is such an exciting screen presence. One thing that stands out to me about her work is how comfortable she is being alone on screen.
She really is at her best when it is just her and the camera, one scene of her polishing the windows really stands out, (although it does end in a slightly clumsy manner ).
She is a brilliant emoter, I remember her in Midsommar, a terrific film starring Pugh that came out a few years ago. After coming out of a screening of it a friend of mine said to me she is the best crier I’ve ever seen on screen. My friend was absolutely right, she cries with her entire body, not just teary eyed whimper, she heaves and screams, it is almost uncomfortable to watch.
She doesn’t quite hit those levels here but the way she contorts her face and body with grimaces, cackles and sobs all in the space of one scene is really remarkable. She elevates this movie massively I feel, if itis worth seeing, it’s worth seeing because of her. Her co-stars are all fine.
All eyes will be on Harry Styles who plays her husband. Bless him, he’s not great, but he’s trying his best. He looks the part in the 50s get-up and for the fun stuff he is quite good, but when it’s time to be serious he stumbles and maybe that is an interesting aspect of the film, to see someone who has managed his career so effortlessly to struggle.
It does feel like an event having him in the film. I think the films really impressive box office numbers are a lot down to him.I think my main issue with the film was how it fails to deliver any type of new or fresh take. It wants to be a clever spin on anti feminist propaganda, gaslighting and hysteria, and unfortunately with all the best meaning in the world, it falls short of doing that in an entertaining way.
I suppose it’s hard when we have such good films, tv and literature making the same point, often with a much more nuanced and interesting spin. The Handmaid’s Tale springs to mind. So in the end its a simple story told well but when weighed against the weight of its own expectations I think it falls short. A terrific Florence Pugh performance makes me still want to recommend it but I wouldn’t get your hopes up for anything spectacular. Maybe they should have worried a little.
