Julia Holody – Contributing Writer

juh664@psu.edu

(SPOILERS INCLUDED)

Olivia Wilde’s second feature film “Don’t Worry Darling” first piqued my interest when I learned about the drama surrounding the film. Wilde had an affair with her co-star, Harry Styles, had a nasty public feud with the leading lady, Florence Pugh, and had issues with actor Shia LaBeouf that lead to his departure from the film. Initially, I was concerned that all of the publicity surrounding the film would overshadow the film itself. However, upon viewing the film on opening night, I could safely say that the drama off-screen does not distract from the experience on screen. 

The film focuses on the seemingly perfect life of Alice Chambers (Florence Pugh) and Jack Chambers (Harry Styles), a married couple living in an idyllic suburban oasis in the middle of the desert known as Victory. The experimental community is the creation of Frank (Chris Pine), the creator of the mysterious Victory Project and Jack’s boss. Alice is enjoying her life as a housewife until the veneer of her surroundings begins to slip. She begins to hallucinate, exposing the darkness lurking behind her perfect life. As she begins to notice more oddities, Alice begins to question why she is in Victory anyway, much to everyone’s dismay.

“Don’t Worry Darling” presents a misogynistic prison disguised as a 1950s suburbia straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting. Olivia Wilde is a self-proclaimed feminist, and her criticism of everything patriarchial is glaringly obvious. The film critiques the ideologies of incels (short for “involuntarily celibate”) and the “alpha males” who run misogynistic podcasts. As it turns out, the world of Victory is a simulation constructed by Frank, who is a podcaster in the real world. The creator of the Victory Project, Frank, was inspired by far-right intellectual Jordan Peterson, who she called “a hero to the incel community.” Jack, one of Frank’s avid listeners, traps Alice in the simulation to have complete control over her. To keep the women subservient, control as a concept is pushed as something beautiful, that there is beauty in conformity. 

Overall, “Don’t Worry Darling” was alright. It was exciting to watch the slow-burn mystery unravel. I shared the feeling of uncanniness with Alice as she began to notice glitches in the simulation. Harry Styles exhibited a promising acting debut, and I enjoyed the scene where Frank was making him dance in front of every resident in Victory at a dinner party (the scene is just as absurd as it sounds). I was glad to see Florence Pugh in another horror movie, due to the way she thrives in the genre. The world-building could have been more developed, and I feel like I left the theater with more questions than answers about the purpose of the Victory Project and how the other women ended up there. I feel as though the controversy stirred up by Olivia Wilde damaged her credibility as a director. Her feminist perspective feels disingenuous. The irony of Wilde wanting alleged abuser Shia LaBeouf to star in a film that criticizes abusive men is not lost on me. 

All in all, I would give the film a 3.5 out of 5 stars.