Don’t Worry Darling – Movie Review
Director: Olivia Wilde
Writer: Katie Silberman (Screenplay)
Writer: Carey Van Dyke, Shane Van Dyke (Story)
Cast
- Florence Pugh (Fighting With My Family)
- Harry Styles (Dunkirk)
- Chris Pine (Star Trek)
- Olivia Wilde (Booksmart)
- Kiki Layne (If Beale Street Could Talk)
Plot: A 1950s housewife living with her husband in a utopian experimental community begins to worry that his glamorous company could be hiding disturbing secrets.
Runtime: 2 Hours 2 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Don’t Worry Darling starts when 1950s housewife Alice (Pugh) finds herself going through the same routine. When one of her neighbours starts questioning more about the world, Alice starts questioning her own sanity.
The deeper Alice starts to investigate the leader of the Victory Project Frank (Pine), the stranger things start becoming. Alice risks her and her husband Jack’s (Styles) future in the project in her quest for answers.
Verdict on Don’t Worry Darling
Characters
Alice is an everyday 1950s American housewife, preparing dinner, cleaning the house and spending time with the other wives. When one of her friends and neighbours starts asking a few more questions about their home. Alice starts to experience strange events, leading her to break from the traditional routine she finds herself in. She questions everything in her world, learning more about the position she finds herself in.
Jack is Alice’s devoted husband who works on the dot every day and comes to her for parties. He will do anything for her, as he loves her but doesn’t understand the change she is going through.
Frank is the mastermind of the Victory Project. He tends to keep to himself, saving his interactions for speeches when welcoming new families. Frank is respected by everyone, and it is only when people start questioning the world, that we see a different side to him.
In the supporting characters, we have other wives Bunny, Margaret, Violet and Peg who have known each other and spend most days living a life of luxury.
Performances
Florence Pugh is incredible once again, being everything, we would have imagined from her in this role. She shows the ray of sunshine perfectly, before showing the side that is losing her mind.
Chris Pine and Gemma Chan are also excellent in their supporting roles, controlling the scenes they are in. Harry Styles is well in the sweetheart husband role but struggles more in the intense moments.
Story
The story follows a perfect 1950s world in a new project in the middle of the desert. When one of the housewives starts questioning what is going on, we see a mindset change in others within the community. As Alice looks for answers, she is left to learn an even more shocking discovery about her world.
This story starts out easily seeing something wrong, it is clearly not everything is right. It leaves us to follow Alice as she searches for the truth, as not everything is running as smoothly as it could. If things start adding up, things are often taken away from us again and by the end, it still doesn’t feel finished with the story side of things.
Themes
Don’t Worry Darling is a mystery thriller set in a remote desert community, where they believe they are working for a brighter future. It looks like a perfect world, everything is on service and nothing looks out of place. The mystery comes from one of the residents questioning what is going on, unsure of how to handle the event she can’t explain. This does let the story dive into other genres that only seem to create a bigger mystery.
Final Thoughts – Don’t Worry Darling has plenty of mysteries, only to fall flat with the ending.
