Olivia Wilde's "Don't Worry Darling" is a film that, in recent weeks, has been besieged and consumed by off-screen dramas, none of which I'll recount here, except to note that when the lead actress in a movie seems actively reluctant to publicize the film in question, that's a sign of serious discord. However, it would be highly unfair to allow this tempest in a pot of gossip confusion to influence one's feelings about the film. If you wish to discuss issues related to "Don't Worry Darling", you need look no further than what appears on the screen.
The film, written by Katie Silberman, with brilliant production design by Katie Byron, is a kind of candy-colored "Stepford Wives" in the twilight zone meets "The Handmaid's Tale" for the era of torn democracy. . In theory, this should add up to a juicy watch. Wilde, whose first feature film was the witty and bouncy 2019 party girl comedy "Booksmart," is a gifted director who knows how to set a mood. In "Don't Worry Darling," she does that to the fullest, and for a while you get caught up in it. Between the pop ambition, the lusciously dreamy visuals, and the presence of Harry Styles in her first leading role, "Don't Worry Darling" should have no trouble finding an audience. But the movie takes you on a journey that gets progressively less brilliant as it goes on.
Director: Olivia Wilde
Writers: Katie Silberman, Carey Van Dyke, Shane Van Dyke
Stars: Florence Pugh, Olivia Wilde, Chris Pine
As it begins, we listen to the sexy bop of Ray Charles's 1958 version of "Night Time Is the Right Time," and dive into what sounds like a "Mad Men"-era cocktail, except everyone's so Loud and shrill and lewd and over the top you wonder if Gibson martinis are spiked with ecstasy. That's not how cocktails were back then. But that's because this isn't back then. This is now.
We're in a weird planned community somewhere in a desert of palm trees, where every home is the exact same flat white cookie-cutter model. Every morning, the men climb into their curvy big post-war cars, which are different shades of lollipops, and drive out of their suburban cul-de-sac in a choreographed line. They head off to another day of work at Project Victoria, a research operation so secret they aren't even allowed to talk about it with their wives. The standard corporate line is that they're working on "progressive materials development," which makes it sound like they're inventing nuclear weapons or something just as dark and monumental.
And the women? They stay home, chatting and gossiping, cleaning the house, babysitting, hanging out by the pool, making tuna salad and deviled eggs, taking ballet lessons, and greeting their husbands with a drink at the door. You can examine everything and think: What new hell is this? But "Don't Worry Darling" hasn't gotten to the sinister part yet. The name of this retro surreal subdivision is Victory, and the main thing everyone is talking about is how awesome it is. How lucky they are to be there, and how happy they are to have escaped the life they had before.
Our entry point into the Victory lifestyle is a childless couple who look singularly sexy, alluring and in love: Jack, played by Styles with a healthy shrewdness that marks him out as a natural screen actor, and Alice, played by Florence. Pugh, who takes to the center of the film with a spark of enthusiasm that merges with the wary gaze of a detective. These two can barely keep their hands off each other, and there is an affection to their interaction. But is it real? Is any of what we are seeing real?
Victory's prefab community is run by a man named Frank, who also created it and, played by Chris Pine, has the persona of a New Age cult leader, not a prototype '50s guru, but one of those grinning self-actualization fascists, the kind that can kill you with their sensitive positivity. And, of course, the reason for this is that they are never sincere. They are trying to get something out of you. They are "open" about everything except their own agenda. Pine gives a delightful performance, but as soon as Alice and Jack join the other residents for a party at Frank's oversized house, it's clear that something deeply troublesome is at play.
Watch Don't Worry Darling 2022 Movie Trailer
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