Warner Bros. Pictures releases Don’t Worry Darling in UK cinemas on September 23, 2022.
Synopsis
Alice (Florence Pugh) and Jack (Harry Styles) are lucky to be living in the idealized community of Victory, the experimental company town housing the men who work for the top-secret Victory Project and their families. The 1950’s societal optimism espoused by their CEO, Frank (Chris Pine)—equal parts corporate visionary and motivational life coach—anchors every aspect of daily life in the tight-knit desert utopia.
While the husbands spend every day inside the Victory Project Headquarters, working on the “development of progressive materials,” their wives—including Frank’s elegant partner, Shelley (Gemma Chan)—get to spend their time enjoying the beauty, luxury and debauchery of their community. Life is perfect, with every resident’s needs met by the company. All they ask in return is discretion and unquestioning commitment to the Victory cause. But when cracks in their idyllic life begin to appear, exposing flashes of something much more sinister lurking beneath the attractive façade, Alice can’t help questioning exactly what they’re doing in Victory, and why. Just how much is Alice willing to lose to expose what’s really going on in this paradise?
Review
In this era of huge IP there’s little room for the type of original thriller from which Don’t Worry Darling takes inspiration. In recent memory the big studios have shied away from this high-concept movie in favour of sequels and reboots. In fact the last risk I can recall was another WB movie, Reminiscence.
Don’t Worry Darling has everything going for it. A brilliant cast fronted by Florence Pugh and featuring both Gemma Chan and Chris Pine. Some of the most stunning production and sound design of any film so far this year. Plus an in built audience courtesy of Harry Styles unstoppable legion of fans. So it’s a shame to see that the final production doesn’t quite stick the landing.
Coming off the back of Booksmart, the team of director Olivia Wilde and writer Katie Silberman has a lot of clout. With their previous collab they created an industry darling that continues to permeate through popular culture over three years after release. But with Don’t Worry Darling it seems they may be reaching to find relevance.
The setup in act one is brilliant. Alice (Pugh) and Jack (Styles) live in the idyllic, 50’s styled community of Victory. The wives dote on their husbands, preparing breakfasts, cleaning their houses and waiting on them to return with dinner in the oven and drinks ready poured. We watch these women as they live the perfect nuclear life, never asking questions about what is going on behind closed doors. Wilde inserts herself in to the narrative as nosy neighbour Bunny, presiding over the neighbourhood as its matriarch.
The men all work for the mysterious Frank (Pine), the architect of Victory and potential de-facto cult leader. His wife, Shelly (Chan) presides over the other wives in ways which will leave the audience wondering if she might be the one pulling the strings.
The cracks begin to show early on. A recurring musical motif, stuck in Alice’s head, signposts that there will be details littered throughout the film which will help lead the audience to the eventual conclusion. Plenty of strange occurrences begin to shake Alice’s belief in her relationship and her surroundings. Plenty of those moments have unfortunately been spoiled by the film’s trailer. But given the context of the film’s somewhat bloated 122 minute runtime, they do successfully build tension.
Silberman‘s script is measured in its journey to discovery. Though it doesn’t take long for said cracks to show, there’s no immediate rush to lay all the cards on the table. Don’t Worry Darling rightly focusses itself on Alice, allowing us to be in her corner when the inevitable downward spiral kicks in to high gear. It also gives the right amount of development to Frank as the closest we get to a villain.
The problems begin when we hit the middle of the film. With the reveal that something is wrong with neighbour Margaret (Kiki Layne), rather than beginning to pull back the curtain, Wilde keeps the narrative treading water. As Alice gets caught up in the mystery bubbling under the surface of Victory, Wilde desperately holds back the reveals in order to eek out more of the syrupy 50s style.
In its third act, Don’t Worry Darling break the speed limit in trying to reach an exciting conclusion. The reveals come thick and fast. But just as the film teases some potentially mind-bending science fiction, it pivots to reveal the real cultural message behind its complex dynamics. Its a journey that audiences should discover for themselves. But its clear that underneath the window dressing, Wilde and Silberman had a message they wanted to put across. Unfortunately the message gets a little lost in the wilderness of reveals. As the film breaks its narrative structure, it becomes difficult to keep up with the developments. Once again, the success of the film rests squarely on Pugh’s shoulders.
Verdict
Don’t Worry Darling plays in a wonderful sandbox of Black Mirror style ideas and is elevated hugely by Pugh’s star power. But with so much going for it, the 2hr runtime is bloated somewhat tedious.
⭐⭐⭐
