In her sophomore attempt at directing a film, Olivia Wilde created the psychological thriller Don’t Worry Darling. With an ensemble cast, this film pays homage to older films in its genre. Films such as The Stepford Wives and Jordan Peele’s Get Out.
Riding off the success of her first film, Booksmart, Wilde was immediately approached by several studios who wanted to produce her next film. Don’t Worry Darling did not perform as well as Wilde’s first film, but there was some praise for the performance of the actors. The fact that the story had similarities with other movies did not work in its favour as it impeded its originality despite the huge amount of talent it featured.
What Is The Plot Of Don’t Worry Darling?
Just like The Stepford Wives, the story is set in an idyllic town. This time, it is a town called Victory set in the 1950s. All the men work for a man called Frank, who runs Victory. The women, on the other hand, are stay-at-home wives. Things start to unravel when one of the women claims that her son has been killed.
What follows is a series of events that threaten the fragile peace in Victory. Florence Pugh’s Alice, who is at the centre of the story, starts to uncover certain secrets about life in Victory. By the end of the film, she kills her husband. This is after she learns the truth about the town. Leading her to find a way to escape while letting all the other women know what is going on.
Don’t Worry Darling Had An Ensemble Cast
Pugh plays Alice, a woman married to Jack who is played by Harry Styles. She is the one who discovers that life in Victory is a simulation. This comes after she sees one of the other women, Margaret played by KiKi Layne, in town slit her throat and fall from a building. Her concerns are confirmed by her best friend and neighbour Bunny who is played by Olivia Wilde.
The leader of Victory is Jack, and Chris Pine does a brilliant job of bringing him to life. He and the other men in the town have put their wives in a simulation run by Jack. They leave the town daily for the real world where they work. The work they do in the real world is geared towards paying for their time and space at Victory. Some of the men, like Nick Kroll’s character Dean, are in on it with their wives. Gemma Chan plays Jack’s wife and by the time the film draws to an end, she kills him in a bid to take over Victory.
Similarities With Other Films
Don’t Worry Darling’s premise of complaint wives stuck in the 50s plays into the societal structure of Stepford in the 1975 The Stepford Wives. Where the wives have been killed by their husbands and have been replaced by robots who are exact replicas of the women. This same forceful submission of women is present in Don’t Worry Darling where instead of robots, the women are stuck in a simulation.
This entrapment that the film relies on, is also reminiscent of the plot in Get Out. However, because of its similarities to these well-known films, the big twist of the film can be seen a mile away. This ruins the intended surprise and reveal which triggers Alice’s awakening and escape.
Controversy Surrounding Don’t Worry Darling
The release of Don’t Worry Darling came right on the heels of controversy that almost ruined the little success the film enjoyed. In 2020, Shia LaBeouf was announced as one of the leads in the film, the other was Pugh. But by the September of the year, Styles had taken over for LaBeouf and scheduling conflict was billed as the reason for this.
However, it came to light that LaBeouf had been fired by Wilde, for bad behaviour. A claim that LaBeouf refuted. Many other conflicts took place during filming that affected production and some of these came to light during promotion for the film. With cast and crew attempting to quell and end the rumours.
Reviews Of The Film
A lot of the praise that the film received was for the performance of the actors, especially Pugh’s. Critics largely had mixed reviews about the film. However, there was a consensus that the acting, cinematograph and design, were all brilliant.
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