Don’t Worry Darling has been the talk of the town with all of the drama circulating around the filming cast. Did Olivia Wilde and Florence Pugh have a falling out? Did Harry Styles spit on his coworkers lap? And it goes on and on and on. But to be honest, I don’t care about any of that. Before even knowing Harry Styles was in the movie, all I knew was that my favorite actress Florence Pugh would be starring in the film. I am a bit late to the party due to my bronchitis, but I finally got to see this film. This movie is exciting, new, and leaves watchers on the edge of their seats. I am just going to put my biases out there right now: I do not like Olivia Wilde, I like Harry Styles, and I love Florence Pugh. However, I hate to say it but, Olivia Wilde created a piece of art with this film. This article will be dissecting how I feel about the movie, some connections and themes of it, and a few spoilers. Warning: SPOILERS AHEAD.
To review, Don’t Worry Darling follows a young couple, Alice and Jack Chambers, that live in the desert while Jack works on a very important project called the “Victory Project.” This desert oasis is set to look like it takes place in the 50s and along with that comes all the typical gender roles. Men go out and do their jobs while the women stay home- cooking, cleaning, shopping, and just doing house wife duties. There is only one rule in this universe and it is to not go where the husbands do during the work day. However, like all rules, this is eventually broken by a wife of an employee. Later on, Alice sees a plane crash and walks out to HeadQuarters to find some help, breaking the rule. This turns her life upside down into a terrifying journey both Alice and the viewers of this film must go on. The entire movie is about Alice Chambers discovering and revealing the truths of this society, the society that may not even be real.
Overall, I generally enjoy psychological thrillers, especially Jordan Peele movies which I think are the cream of the crop, however this movie is neck and neck with Us. The entire time I was trying to figure out what was actually happening at HeadQuarters along with Alice, trying to piece together the puzzle. I did figure out that this “Victory Project” universe was in modern day, but somewhere else but I did not (SPOILER) expect this world to be a virtual reality! How none of Alice’s life was actually real and how Jack Chambers just stole her freedom away from her. The central theme of the movie is a long metaphor for women’s rights and how men try to control women, even now. It starts with the traditional gender roles, to all the officials being men, and then progresses until the end where Jack confesses that he put Alice in this fake reality because “she was so miserable in her life” and he just wanted to make her happy all the time. Although Jack might have of had good intentions, his actions directly stole Alice’s life and freedom to do and be whatever and whoever she wants. This movie touches on how even today, men will try to control us without even truly realizing that that is what they are doing. This movie was so chilling when Jack confessed because Alice was experiencing so many emotions like terror, depression, an identity crisis, heartbreak, and also love for Jack. Florence Pugh did a beautiful job capturing the emotions of this movie, as she has done in previous films. Although Harry Styles was in the movie, he definitely did not steal the spotlight from Florence, she is just such an amazing actress.
A connection to the real world is that the alternate reality (Victory) was very similar to the Manhattan Project, which is something that took place in the 1950s and 60s. This town was built as part of a secret mission to test out nuclear bombs that the United States government were creating. The entire town had signs that said things like “Loose Talk Helps Our Enemies so Let’s Keep our Traps Shut.” The secrecy of this city is extremely similar to that of the Victory Project town. During the movie, the women often hear explosions or the city shakes. They know it is not an earthquake, but they do not know what is truly going on, like in the Manhattan Project. I think it was quite smart to model the Victory Project realm after this society!
Overall, I very much enjoyed the film. I spent majority of it trying to figure out what was going on and I still ended up shocked at the end. I am always amazed by Florence Pugh’s artistry, as she has such an amazing way of playing her characters and conveying complex emotion. 8.5/10