Director: Olivia Wilde
Genre: Drama/ Thriller
Runtime: 123
minutes
Year:
2022
Starring: Florence Pugh, Olivia Wilde, Harry Styles, Chris Pine, Kiki Layne,
Gemma Chan, Nick Kroll
Description: A 1950s
housewife (Florence Pugh) living with her husband (Harry Styles) in an utopian
experimental community begins to worry that his glamorous company could be
hiding disturbing secrets.
Review: Almost nothing more iconic than the suburb of an American city in the
1950s. industrious housewives wave their husbands off each morning as they head
off to work in their shiny cars. In the evening, a sumptuous meal is on the
table. During the day, the women gossip and chat, in between cleaning their
houses, ballet class and taking care of the children. the American dream in a
nutshell, but we all know the dark side.
The perfect families, always
smiling, never troubles and always neat and tidy. The families who have moved
into the suburbs of the thriller “Don’t Worry Darling” van flawlessly go along
with the ideal image. What exactly their husbands do in the Californian desert
is a mystery to the wives, but they aren’t allowed to ask either. The families
are part of the utopian Victory project, started by their employer who also
lives in this neighborhood. Jack and his wife Alice are one of the couples. Their
perfect life is in danger when Alice does the very thing she is not supposed to
do: ask questions.
The second directorial
project for Olivia Wilde, who also has a supporting role, had quite a few
issues. After Wilde’s debut movie, studios fought over het next project. The casting
was anything but flawless: Shia LeBeouf was fired after misconduct and
apparently Wilde did not get along with leading lady Florence Pugh. None of
this shows. For a long time, this suspenseful drama is driven by a pleasant
sense of alienation and mystery. It all begins after Alice makes a curious
observation in the desert and goes to investigate. And why is the neighbor behaving
so hysterically?
Then there is the benefactor
of the project who is bursting with charm and charisma but in the meantime
wants to control everything. Wilde plays the entrenched image od the American
middle class in the 1950s complete with its attendant gender roles. No man van
excel without a woman by his side. That the latter must above all meekly keep
her mouth shut and follow order in an environment of narrow-mindedness is
conveniently omitted.
These circumstances combined
with Alice’s curious nature are bound to cause problems. The unhappy housewife,
who maintains a passionate relationship with her husband Jack, undergoes the
usual patterns of her own disbelief, not being believed herself and facing
opposition from those around her. We have seen this pattern passed by before,
but it’s embedded in unusual circumstances and performed by a downright heroine
whose resistance she experiences only makes her more combative.
That something is quite
wrong in peaceful Victory is obvious, and along with Alice, the viewer sets out
to investigate. The film is not at all predictable, even though you know
something bad is going to happen.
Wilde directs tightly but
vividly, with the bright colors of the 1950s and the sweltering desert heat
becoming increasingly stifling.
Once unfolded, “Don’t Worry
Darling” evokes a host of comparisons to other films, which I will not list to
avoid spoilers. The excellent acting completes the picture. even former One
Direction star Harry Styles does a fine job. Not genius, but certainly a refreshingly
unconventional mindfuck.
Rating: 4/ 5
