Movie Review: Don't Worry Darling

"It's all about control"

(Harry Styles and Florence Pugh in “Don’t Worry Darling”)

It’s no secret that if you’ve been on the internet during the press release tour of this film “Don’t worry darling” was shrouded in controversy, everything from actors not getting along with each other on set to actors' (allegedly) getting spit. Beneath all this controversy lies the movie itself and I think due to all the fuss the film suffered critically and became overshadowed by the drama. Still, removing the drama from it, I thoroughly enjoyed this film. While not perfect, I think the movie hits all the right story beats and executes its themes and ideas really well. I think Olivia Wilde does an excellent job of conveying themes of power and control and tells an excellent story through the lens of a psychological thriller. So I’m gonna discuss what I learned from this movie and hopefully shed new light on the film.

So let’s discuss the themes of power and control throughout the film first. The first subtle example of power and control in the movie is its use of the 50s/60s ideals of the working man and the housewife. This use of traditional and old fashion living and setting subconsciously tells us that there are inherent power dynamics and imbalances present but over the course of this movie, it becomes less subtle and becomes very blatant that there is a power play here by someone. It starts off with little subtle things like Jack (played by Harry styles) going off to work and coming home to Alice having cooked dinner, having his favorite drink ready for him at the door, and of course sex. It plays into those 50s and 60s ideals I mentioned earlier that the man provides financially that and the woman stays home and provides for him. All of this (in real life and in the film) is under the guise that this is a fair and equal tradeoff but as we know it’s not because money is power and blah blah blah you get the gist. But as the movie progresses we see Alice try to fight back against the system that is literally oppressing her.

The dinner table scene in the third act is my favorite scene of the entire movie because everything before it had essentially been building up to this point and wow did it deliver. At this point, Alice is approached by frank and he basically confirms that her suspicions are correct but the subtext here is that all though she has figured it out there is nothing she could do about it due to Frank’s power and control over everyone. He does this by complimenting her saying, saying he likes a challenge, and during the confrontation, he always keeps calm and collected while Alice is frantic and panicked hoping for others to believe her. Alice’s character during the encounter says “it’s all about control” and to me, this is when everything clicked. What this conflict tells us as the audience is that if you control and influence the narrative you have the most power in the situation.

The final example I want to talk about is the power and control that Jack took away from Alice in the grand reveal of the film. So, surprise surprise Jack was behind it all as a reveal it was ehh, I kinda had figured it out by that point but it still serves its purpose effectively. we learn in the real world that Alice is a doctor and that Jack is a dirty loser and because of her busy schedule it begins taking a toll on their relationship (well it does to Jack). So he took the opportunity to take control and strip Alice of her power and control and subject her to this false reality. In the end, she has to overcome not just Jack 9the one who put her in this) but the entire system that’s been allowing and supporting this as well. In the end, She breaks free and seemingly is in control of her own life again as she wakes up at the end and it cuts to black, and the credits roll.

Ok, this section is for things that I wanted to address but didn’t want to place into the actual review. Firstly, I am aware of the overarching ideals of Female empowerment and feminism in general throughout the movie and their importance to the film. I just wanted to focus on the themes and message of the movie as that is what I am good at analyzing. On a more silly-ish note, what was the purpose of the plane like what was its significance? I feel like a lot of emphases was placed on the plane but it was never really flushed out into anything meaningful. Again, I may be missing something so if you know please let me know. As for the performances, I think Florence Pugh is a star she gave hands down the best performance and someone (me) would say she carried the movie on her back. But, I do want to give props to Chris Pine as well he really sold his role as the control character very well. Everyone else… you know they were cute but cute next to gorgeous ( Florence and Chris) gorgeous is gonna devour cute every time.

Well, This concludes my review of Don’t Worry Darling. Let me know your thoughts on the movie and my review and I hope to catch you in the next newsletter.