If a film starts to get a bad rap before it comes out it’s usually a bad sign. Following on from her debut film, the massively underrated Booksmart, Olivia Wilde had a lot to live up to with her second directorial venture. A Stepford Wives kind of story of an idyllic 1950’s suburban lifestyle gone awry; Don’t Worry Darling was looking very promising from its trailers. But when reports began to come out surrounding a problematic production and conflicts between Wilde and leading actress Florence Pugh the media unleashed all hell on the film and that vitriol managed to taint a lot of the reviews that came out surrounding the film’s release. So, is Don’t Worry Darling sub-par as critics would have you believe, or is there a great film that’s just been tarnished by disagreements on set?
The Victory Project provides an idyllic lifestyle to the families that provide for the company. Whilst the men go off to work everyday and work on ‘progressive materials’, the women keep the house clean, cook the food, and sit in their gardens sipping cocktails and spreading gossip. It’s the mid-millennia American dream. That is until Alice (Florence Pugh) begins to believe that Frank (Chris Pine), founder of the Victory project, is hiding something. Jeopardising her husband’s (Harry Styles) career and labelled as delusional, Alice sets about uncovering what the Victory Project really is.
The Victory Project provides an idyllic lifestyle to the families that provide for the company. Whilst the men go off to work everyday and work on ‘progressive materials’, the women keep the house clean, cook the food, and sit in their gardens sipping cocktails and spreading gossip. It’s the mid-millennia American dream. That is until Alice (Florence Pugh) begins to believe that Frank (Chris Pine), founder of the Victory project, is hiding something. Jeopardising her husband’s (Harry Styles) career and labelled as delusional, Alice sets about uncovering what the Victory Project really is.
Don’t Worry Darling isn’t a unique concept, it has been done multiple times before, most famously and similarly with the aforementioned The Stepford Wives in 1975 and 2004. But you’ve also got The Matrix and The Truman Show just to name two others with a basic concept the same as Don’t Worry Darling. The Victory Project is not real, and it’s very obviously not real from the word go, but the question lies in how it is not real. Plenty of critics have noted how this means that Don’t Worry Darling is entirely unoriginal and a rehash of a ‘tired trope’. Personally, I think that’s massively overreaching. There is truth in that Don’t Worry Darling is not original, in fact as film critic Mark Kermode put it ‘there’s one of five possible endings, and then at some point in the film you realise which one it is.’, but that doesn’t mean that the journey to get there isn’t thrilling and well-constructed. Have I seen the story of Don’t Worry Darling before? Yes. But have I seen it done with such style and conviction? I’d argue no. Using the argument of ‘we’ve seen this before’ is moot in modern Hollywood productions because everything at the moment is a superhero film or franchise adjacent, it’s all derivative of itself and originality rarely comes in the form of the story, it comes in the form of how its presented and the performances; something that Don’t Worry Darling excels at in both areas.
Pugh is one of the best actresses in Hollywood right now and she really shows us why in Don’t Worry Darling. Able to switch from docile housewife to a confident and dangerous force almost on a dime and she does so extremely convincingly. She doesn’t just say her dialogue, she lives it, and when she delivers a performance as convincing as this it’s difficult not to get swept away with the story even though you’re aware of the genre trappings.
Pine also delivers a strong performance as the gaslighting and subtly menacing leader of Victory. He’s the kind of guy you don’t want to cross, all smiles and handshakes until you have a knife in your back. Styles’ performance in comparison is lacking, but he’s better than I had expected. I believe this is the first film where he’s had a significant speaking role, because Dunkirk didn’t have a whole lot of dialogue and Eternals was a blink and you miss it cameo. He’s competent enough, his accent is a little peculiar, seemingly undecided on English or American, but I wouldn’t say he owns the role. I could see umpteen different actors playing that role, but it’s a good enough start for the former One Direction star’s acting career.
Pugh is one of the best actresses in Hollywood right now and she really shows us why in Don’t Worry Darling. Able to switch from docile housewife to a confident and dangerous force almost on a dime and she does so extremely convincingly. She doesn’t just say her dialogue, she lives it, and when she delivers a performance as convincing as this it’s difficult not to get swept away with the story even though you’re aware of the genre trappings.
Pine also delivers a strong performance as the gaslighting and subtly menacing leader of Victory. He’s the kind of guy you don’t want to cross, all smiles and handshakes until you have a knife in your back. Styles’ performance in comparison is lacking, but he’s better than I had expected. I believe this is the first film where he’s had a significant speaking role, because Dunkirk didn’t have a whole lot of dialogue and Eternals was a blink and you miss it cameo. He’s competent enough, his accent is a little peculiar, seemingly undecided on English or American, but I wouldn’t say he owns the role. I could see umpteen different actors playing that role, but it’s a good enough start for the former One Direction star’s acting career.
I loved the look of Don’t Worry Darling. The fifties aesthetic with its bright colours, polka dot dresses, poofy hairstyles, and some fantastic music blends really well together. I’ve heard criticisms that it borrows from both the fifties and sixties indiscriminately and evidently people have an issue with that. But when you factor in that this mid-century world is not the reality we know and understand, I think that’s kind of a moot point.
Cinematographer Matthew Libatique has some really gorgeous environmental shots that go hard on selling Victory as this perfect maze in the middle of nowhere. The way the visuals distort and shift as Alice begins to unravel the mystery of Victory is a nice touch, giving you the impression of you being trapped in this fever dream with her.
I didn’t like the ending though. It felt too abrupt, it lacked conclusively, and it felt like there was another ten minutes or so of the film left to go. When the reveal as to what’s actually happening does happen, I feel like it shows a bit too much, this probably would have been better having been saved until right at the end. After all we’ve been through with Alice and the other ladies of Victory, to have an ending that abrupt and lacking in answers feels like a cop-out.
Don’t Worry Darling may not have wowed the critics, but I certainly had a good time with it. I liked the story, I liked the performances, and I liked the way it was all presented. It may not be an original story, but it’s a good version of this type of film, and I’d absolutely watch it again. Whilst the production issues are their own beast, Don’t Worry Darling is something I’d recommend checking out for Pugh’s performance alone, and all the other good stuff is just icing on a familiar yet still tasty cake.
Cinematographer Matthew Libatique has some really gorgeous environmental shots that go hard on selling Victory as this perfect maze in the middle of nowhere. The way the visuals distort and shift as Alice begins to unravel the mystery of Victory is a nice touch, giving you the impression of you being trapped in this fever dream with her.
I didn’t like the ending though. It felt too abrupt, it lacked conclusively, and it felt like there was another ten minutes or so of the film left to go. When the reveal as to what’s actually happening does happen, I feel like it shows a bit too much, this probably would have been better having been saved until right at the end. After all we’ve been through with Alice and the other ladies of Victory, to have an ending that abrupt and lacking in answers feels like a cop-out.
Don’t Worry Darling may not have wowed the critics, but I certainly had a good time with it. I liked the story, I liked the performances, and I liked the way it was all presented. It may not be an original story, but it’s a good version of this type of film, and I’d absolutely watch it again. Whilst the production issues are their own beast, Don’t Worry Darling is something I’d recommend checking out for Pugh’s performance alone, and all the other good stuff is just icing on a familiar yet still tasty cake.