Don’t Worry Darling Is a Beautiful Film That Misses the Mark

Don’t Worry Darling has type. And we don’t simply imply Harry Styles. It’s received an unimaginable appear and feel about it. Impeccable manufacturing and costume design. Bright, lovely cinematography. Memorable, impactful musical decisions and a hypnotic, distinctive rating. There’s little question that director Olivia Wilde has crafted a world and movie that oozes panache and surprise. It’s only a disgrace that the story it’s in service of by no means fairly lives as much as it.

In Don’t Worry Darling, Alice (Florence Pugh) and Jack (Harry Styles) appear to have an ideal life. He’s received an excellent job, she’s received a ton of pals, they’re always intimate, they usually stay within the lovely city of Victory. Victory is an remoted desert neighborhood through which all of the husbands within the city work for a singular firm referred to as the Victory Project. Meanwhile, all of the wives keep house, gossip, drink, and ensure there’s a home-cooked meal on the desk when the lads get house. If that appears like a really dated, borderline offensive portrayal of life and gender, you’re heading in the right direction. Though it’s by no means explicitly acknowledged, all the pieces about life in Victory screams outdated Fifties film. Almost if that’s by design.

The design comes from Frank (Chris Pine), the chief of Victory Project, who’s an nearly non secular deity to his neighbors and staff. Frank is promoting heaven on Earth, however that each one adjustments when one of many ladies on the town, Margaret (KiKi Layne), begins to complain about issues being unsuitable. Soon, Alice begins to agree together with her. Thus begins an elaborate thriller the place Alice challenges the very notion of Victory, a lot to the chagrin of just about everybody round her. It’s her versus the world.

Obviously, all the pieces is just not what it appears in Victory and, as you’d count on, Alice does start to unravel issues. However, as soon as the precise fact of the state of affairs is revealed, all of it comes aside. The viewers is bombarded with data and motion for the movie’s closing 20 minutes or so till the film ends somewhat abruptly. For a movie that has been so meticulous about each little element, the shift in tone and story is surprising and damaging.

All of those reveals and information are crucial to the overall story, filling in plot holes, and hammering home some of Wilde’s ultimate themes, which involve gaslighting, misogyny, and privilege. But because it happens so suddenly, and the movie has previously been so cautious tiptoeing around its truths, you’re ultimately left more curious about the hows and whys of the big reveal instead of the film’s intentions. The point of the film is lost because it’s rushed and doesn’t make a lot of sense.

This is a shame because, as we said, Don’t Worry Darling is an otherwise impeccably made movie with some top-notch performances. Pugh is beyond captivating, giving a multilayered portrayal that’s confident and content on the surface, with a layer below that’s slowly unraveling. Each scene in the film sees that interior slowly overtaking the exterior until her scared confusion finally merges with the assertiveness. As her husband, Styles is purposefully charming to an extent that makes you kind of fear him, which adds a nice touch to the story. Supporting roles from the likes of Nick Kroll, Gemma Chan, Timothy Simons, and Wilde herself are all up to the task. Then the other standout is Pine, who makes his cult leader so damn watchable you’re ready to follow him yourself. He also has a few dynamite tete-a-tetes with Pugh that are among the movie’s best scenes. Those performances, coupled with the film’s tantalizing worldbuilding, set the table nicely—but, again, are ultimately let down by the structure and pacing of the story, which is backloaded and murky.

There’s plenty to like in Don’t Worry Darling, and you’d imagine multiple viewings knowing the truth of the narrative might make for a more even experience. But on first viewing, it all comes crashing down, like if the table broke under a jigsaw puzzle when you went to add the final piece.

Don’t Worry Darling is now in theaters.

Want extra io9 information? Check out when to count on the newest Marvel and Star Wars releases, what’s subsequent for the DC Universe on movie and TV, and all the pieces it’s essential find out about House of the Dragon and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.