Something Isn’t Right
Warner Bros. (2022)
Despite all the supposed drama that took place behind the scenes of Don’t Worry Darling, the drama on screen is the one that people should pay attention to.
When Don’t Worry Darling was released, the on-set controversies outweighed the film. People that were paying attention heard about the alleged tension between director Olivia Wilde and Florence Pugh, the lead of the film. There was also mixed messaging about whether or not Wilde fired Shia LaBeouf during filming. Another rumor that brewed was of a romance between Wilde and Harry Styles, another star of the movie, which ended before the movie was released. Then, when the cast was doing press for the film at the Venice Film Festival, there was the “spit” incident between Styles and Chris Pine, who is also in the film. Both men denied that Styles actually spat at Pine, but the gossip mill had been churning hardcore on this one, so there are still people who don’t believe the denials. The conflicts and speculation about what exactly went on during production didn’t help the film, along with not so great reviews, and it ultimately flopped at the box office.
I had the movie on my watch list for a long time, and when I saw that Netflix was going to be removing it soon, I figured I better watch it while I had the chance. Overall, I liked it. I wouldn’t say that it makes it on my must-see movie list, but it was good. The storyline was interesting, weird, and unnerving, the acting was tremendous, and the sets and costumes, which hail from the 1950s, were visually enticing.
The first thing that the audience is made aware of is that all of the husbands work for some kind of top secret technological company named Victory. They all leave for work at the same time every day, the wives are extremely wifey (like, breakfast is on the table at the same time every day type of shit), and the idea of sameness is important and emphasized. This idea of conformity isn’t really far off from the mindset of Americans during this era; it’s just heightened in the movie.
The idyllic life that this community and its people seem to live is obviously too good to be true. My first thought was that it was some kind of brainwashing experiment run by Pine’s character, Frank, because he’s the one in charge of this company. Pine dominates the role of Frank. He is definitely someone that no one wants to mess with, and his commanding presence makes pretty much everyone fall in line.
The problem is that Alice, played by Pugh, starts having weird hallucinations, nightmares, and witnesses some other jarring events. Her character starts to question this life that she’s living with her husband Jack, portrayed by Styles.
Pugh and Styles have awesome chemistry together. They start off as totally in love and obsessed with each other, to Alice demanding answers about all the odd happenings and not trusting Jack and his role at Victory. Pugh easily pulls off this role, which isn’t difficult for her to do because she’s an amazing actress. As her character slips further down the rabbit hole, trying to unfurl the mystery of Victory (I love a good rhyme), Pugh delivers the necessary desperation and anger at the unknown, Frank, and Jack.
I was also impressed and pleasantly surprised with Styles’s acting. It’s always a risk when an entertainer from a different arena is cast in a movie, but his take on playing Jack is excellent. Jack is also desperate and angry, like his wife’s character, but only because he wants to keep Alice in this perfect housewife role, and Styles proved he had the acting chops to show this on screen.
The movie takes a Black Mirror-esque turn, which I didn’t see coming. In short, and spoilers ahead, the ideal desert community that Alice and the others are living in isn’t real, her life as this cookie cutter housewife isn’t real, almost all of the other housewives’ lives aren’t real; they are their husbands’ hostages. I won’t get into more detail about what’s really going on, but when I found out about the real situation, my reaction to it was anger. If you want to see gaslighting in motion, this would be the movie to watch.
Whatever off-screen interactions that either did or didn’t take place had no effect on the chemistry that the cast had with each other on-screen. For all I know, it could’ve helped to contribute to the overall tension that is displayed in the film. So, if you can catch Don’t Worry Darling before it exits Netflix, go ahead and give it a whirl.