Don’t Worry Darling
Synopsis
Things aren’t as idyllic as they appear to be in the 1950s experimental community of Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling. Young married couple Alice (Florence Pugh) and Jack Chambers (Harry Styles) are denizens of this community and still caught up in the thralls of young love. While Jack and the other husbands spend their days working at a nearby military site on the mysterious Project Victory, Alice and the other women – including best friend Bunny (Olivia Wilde) – are more than content with playing the role of dutiful housewife. However, a series of mysterious events brings Alice to question the nature of her suburban life and Project Victory. Not only does this bring her into conflict with the project’s head and neighborhood’s intimidating patriarch, Frank (Chris Pine), but it excessively pushes her marriage to the brink as well.
Analysis
My main issue with the film is the way the plot is structured. There isn’t so much of a coherent story as there is a loose collection of absurd sequences, resulting in a narrative overrun with build-up. The over-investment in tension-building also leaves no room for suspense or questioning whether the abnormal going-ons are real or imagined because it takes roughly five seconds to figure out that something’s wrong. I’d be willing to give the movie a small pass if it sensibly handled these scenes, but there’s nothing that one sequence has in common with the other to clue you in as to what’s really happening. The third act’s big reveal thus lands with a dud because it could’ve been substituted out with any other twist and the movie wouldn’t have made any more – or any less – sense. And from a pacing standpoint, the third act is rushed into playing catch-up by throwing so many things at you just to allow the movie to come in at around two hours.
I also felt that that the way characters were handled made no sense. Besides Alice, Jack, and maybe Bunny, the movie doesn’t know what to do with everyone else. For instance, the relationship that Alice has with Margaret (KiKi Layne) brings Alice to question what’s going on. However, it isn’t until halfway through the movie that the film tells us – emphasis on tells, not shows – that Margaret and Alice were very close friends, and we never learn anything else about Margaret besides how she was involved in weird events. The movie brings into the fold a new housewife, Violet (Sydney Chandler), only to give her absolutely nothing to do. You can also tell that Frank is supposed to be this all-seeing and all-knowing malevolent force, but he comes across as more country club douche than Big Brother. And to top it all off, you have character reveals that will leave you more confused than shocked.
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And taking aside how much time is dedicated to awkward set-up, I just didn’t believe that there was a whole lot of there to the story. Now, a toxic community of pitiful men feeling so emasculated by their successful female partners that they force them into subjugation is extremely disturbing to say the least. But it also feels like we’ve heard this story before – both on the big screen as well as in the paper – but better. That’s because the movie doesn’t analyze its central conflict through a new angle or add more complexity to the mix, and the men here are painted so broadly they may as well have been carrying signs that read “We’re misogynists.” As to whether this movie is a “white woman’s version of Get Out”, that isn’t for this review to say. But I will say that watching Margaret, one of the only women of color in the enclave and the first woman to rebel against Project Victory, die just to motivate a white woman into becoming a revolutionary, was for me the most disturbing element of the entire film.
That’s not to say that there isn’t anything to appreciate about this film. Both the set and costume design place you firmly into the 1950s setting, and the surrealism on display in the more abstract sequences – bolstered by excellent camera work – allows for them to be enjoyed devoid of context. And while Styles gives a solid performance in his own right, Pugh was the only reason I cared even a little bit about what was happening. You can’t help but empathize with Alice as her world is turned upside-down because of how Pugh so effectively yet effortlessly nails her character’s emotional beats. And the fact that Pugh gets us to care so deeply about a character who isn’t given much backstory speaks volumes to her incredible acting prowess. So if there’s one thing to take away from this movie, it’s that Pugh is incredible regardless of the script she’s handed (looking at you Black Widow).
Conclusion
Outside of some interesting artistic choices and a strong performance from Pugh, there’s no reason to feel pressured to watch Don’t Worry Darling anytime soon. Poor handling of characters and a disappointing plot prevents the film from having its desired impact on its viewer. But if you’re just looking to be amused by/laugh at a story rife with absurdity that makes little to no sense, there’s no harm in catching the movie when it comes out on streaming.
(P.S. Why couldn’t the movie have been called Don’t Worry Baby instead? You end up with the exact same message, only now it makes sense to play the Beach Boys’ song too!)