It may have picked up more publicity due to behind-the-scenes scandal and celebrity gossip, but Olivia Wilde’s second feature film as director is still one of the most hotly anticipated films of the year, if only to see if the film itself is worth all the fuss. Now audiences can breathe a sigh of relief, as Don’t Worry, Darling is in UK cinemas now.
In her follow up to the ridiculously fun Booksmart, Wilde puts her focus on Alice Chambers (Black Widow’s Florence Pugh), a happy, all-American housewife living in the happy, all-American town of Victory, California in the happy, all-American 1950s with her husband, Jack (Harry Styles) who is, breaking the pattern, British.
While the men drive off to their top-secret military jobs every morning, their wives live in pristine suburban luxury. But something isn’t right—it’s all too perfect, too cookie-cutter, too artificial. As Alice begins to chip away at the flawless surface of the world around her, she begins to uncover a dark and terrible secret…
Don’t Worry, Darling is the latest in a long line of films that posit a hidden reality hiding under the surface of the “real” world, making it a shelf mate to movies like The Truman Show, The Matrix, and Dark City. This one comes with a strong feminist message, which may be way it attracted a cast that includes Gemma Chan, Kiki Layne, Kate Berlant, and burlesque star Dita Von Teese. On the opposite side of the gender divide, Chris Pine is creepy and charming as Frank, the visionary architect of Victory, and Nick Kroll does duty as one of the many happy husbands who dwell there.
The question remains, though: can Don’t Worry, Darling live up to the hype and/or overcome the gossip that has dogged its festival run and publicity campaign so far? There’s only one way to find out…
