Film Review: Don’t Worry Darling

Director: Olivia Wilde
Starring: Harry Styles, Florence Pugh, Chris Pine
Running time: 122 minutes

The long-awaited film Don’t Worry Darling has finally hit cinemas, and with the press alluding to off-screen drama and the film receiving abundant mixed-reviews, there has been much talk about the film before its release. Tabloids and social media have taken a largely anti-Olivia Wilde standpoint, with many criticising her directorial position with accusations of miscasting, lack of originality, and, of course, her alleged feud with leading actress Florence Pugh. This has led many to ask: is it even worth watching? I’m here to tell you it is. 

The story begins in a 1950s hyperreal suburban setting, the characters indulging in the epitome of domestic perfection and each married couple within the community emanating a blissful romance. Alice (Florence Pugh) is married to Jack (Harry Styles), and like all the other wives in the Victory community, is a housewife – seemingly scrubbing, cooking, washing, and scrubbing some more before Jack gets home from work. There is an established, albeit peculiar, status quo – they are expected to live this way and never ask questions about their husbands’ work.

Despite this utopian, pastel-saturated lifestyle, doubts quickly manifest for Alice. This seems instigated by the words of Margaret (Kiki Layne), who has become an outcast of sorts from the community since straying into the desert, and subsequently having a strong distrust in Frank (Chris Pine), the founder of Victory. She is quickly written off as crazy despite her attempts to warn the others. 

Following Margaret’s outburst, Alice begins to have surrealist delusions, allowing Wilde to blur the boundary between genres; it is both a domestic melodrama and psychological thriller. Although most of these delusions do have an eerie quality, distorting reality with the irrational surreality that Alice is experiencing, some of the others fall short. For example, there is a motif in which Alice is crushed by the glass window of her house, however only appearing twice throughout the film and having no real explanation renders it slightly futile in the storyline. 

On the whole, the plot reminisces the satirical feminist horror The Stepford Wives (1975), from domestically and sexually subservient women in an enclosed town, to a secretive Men’s Association, to an uncovered manipulation of reality, the similarities are clear. However, I have to say that I think there are a couple of things which Don’t Worry Darling has over The Stepford Wives; one being its dramatisation of paranoia, and the other being its plot twist. The first half of the film felt somewhat slow with little plot progression in some scenes, but Alice’s revelation about Victory came as a shock to me, very much echoing a Black Mirror-esque ending. 

For me, Florence Pugh’s acting in Don’t Worry Darling made it worth watching, although I didn’t expect any less of her for this film. She portrays the role of the sceptical ‘tradwife’ with the necessary exasperation in the face of constant gaslighting behaviour from Frank, the other community members, and her own husband, Jack. Speaking of her co-star, many people have expressed a dislike of Styles in this film, especially acting alongside an established actress like Pugh. Despite the fact that Styles’ inexperience did show through in some scenes, overall he played the character to a convincing level. 

Although critics have questioned this casting choice, it seems that most of the talk from expecting fans has been about the production drama of the film. Instead of talking about the film itself, many are wondering whether Harry Styles really spat on Chris Pine, or if Olivia Wilde and Florence Pugh had a screaming match on set. It’s interesting how this off-screen drama mirrors the themes of the film, as it leaves viewers wondering what is reality and what has been fabricated, much like the suspicions of Alice in the film. 

Overall, Wilde takes an established concept and turns it into something more unexpected in Don’t Worry Darling, which makes it watchable for those who are fans of her, and those who aren’t. One thing I will say is: don’t watch this film with your parents. Unless you like the feeling of irrepressible, mind-numbing awkwardness during every sex scene, just tell your mum to put on Catchphrase or something. 

Don’t Worry Darling is showing at Broadway Cinema until Thursday 29 September