Don’t Worry Darling (2022)
Review of Don’t Worry Darling, directed by Olivia Wilde
Don’t Worry Darling became one of the most notorious movies of 2022, splashing headlines all over the place when it came out with the sheer amount of drama people were concocting. But this isn’t about the movie’s drama, or the feuds that potentially ensued behind the scenes.
I originally saw the trailer for this movie when I saw Nope with my best friend at an AMC Theater near us, right after the Till trailer. I remember this because these were the two trailers that stuck out to me the most. Even though I work in film criticism and whatnot, I didn’t really read the reviews for this film, but I knew the general consensus of what the critics thought.
I tried to go into this movie with an open mind because of this. I ended up waiting for it to appear on HBO Max instead of seeing it in a theater, and, honestly, the visuals in this movie aren’t worth a ticket.
I end up going to the theater to see movies in the highest quality, and this is a movie I think would look just as fine on a laptop or at-home television screen. I have several thoughts about this movie, but it definitely is not the worst thing I’ve seen in the past year.
Onwards with the review!
The town of Victory seems to be a Utopia—in the 1950s American sense.
Don’t Worry Darling establishes itself in a desert town called Victory, where everything seems to be fairly traditional. The vibes of this movie are 1950s America, which is what a lot of the gender dynamics fall within too. Our protagonist is Alice Chambers (Florence Pugh), who is married to Jack (Harry Styles).
Jack is one of the town’s darlings, as he works at the headquarters out in the desert. While the men go off to work each day, the women stay at home as housewives and are essentially not allowed to ask about what is outside of the town borders, or what their husbands do for a living.
That’s not the only crack in this system that appears early on. Some comments made by characters reveal some inner desires that could never exist in the real world: for some, it’s always being pregnant and not having a break in between.
For others, like Margaret, it’s being forced medication and acting outside of what is considered the town’s norm. She claims that the town took away her son, but she is reduced to a hysterical woman—a historical stereotype typically used to demean women.
This arouses Alice’s suspicion. She begins to start having visions during her ballet classes and at nights, and Jack begins acting differently as well. When she interacts with the boss of the town, she finds things getting even weirder. And as Alice digs deeper towards the truth being this little town, she, too, is gaslit by the men around her.
Some know, like her friend Bunny, and willingly live here because it is better than the life she had outside of the town. As it turns out, Alice was forced into this VR system by Jack, who actually is a deadbeat in the real world. She was a successful surgeon forced into a different life by a man, which is a familiar story.
She ends up killing Jack because of this and essentially flees the town, allowing the other women the chance to realize what the town is before fleeing. She does get out of here, and that is the movie in a nutshell.
The stakes don’t feel too high throughout this movie, which is why some might have such problems with it. It feels a bit sterile. Don’t get me wrong—there are some really pretty shots throughout the film. However, it ends up feeling sterile and like something we’ve seen before.
I will say, Florence Pugh is such a wonderful actress. I think she is the best part of this movie, which is pretty sad considering some talented actors were involved with this film.
Harry Styles does truly leave a lot to desire with his acting, but I was more disappointed in the likes of Gemma Chan. I think her character is so underutilized and falls within the trope that her potential is straight up wasted. Due to the nature of the movie, only Florence is allowed to shine as a character.
I think that’s my biggest qualm with this movie as a whole: the screenplay. There are some interesting nuggets of plot scattered throughout the movie, but it becomes fairly predictable and honestly kind of mundane. It’s stuff we’ve all seen before in history.
Because of that, the movie fails to add more to the conversation of what it means to be a feminist film. It was getting there, but falls flat in its execution.
Overall Thoughts
Watch it if you want to. I think I’m glad I’ve seen it to take away the curiosity, but I wouldn’t rewatch it. It’s not as horrible as people say it is, but it is not high cinema as well. I think there were just high expectations it did not meet when it was released for the public, hence the bad reviews.
The drama then fueled the rumor mills and feelings towards the movie, forcing people to take shots at things that honestly weren’t as bad as they make it out to be.
Yes, though, Harry does a poor job of acting. I think he’s a beginner though and probably needs some lessons.
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