Don't Worry Darling is a high-profile recent movie directed by Olivia Wilde, who also has a significant role as an actor. It's a glossy film, good to look at, and stars Florence Pugh as Alice Chambers, a 1950s housewife who leads an apparently idyllic life in a Californian town called Victory while her charming husband Jack (Harry Styles, of all people; he's come a long way since his youth in Holmes Chapel...) and his male neighbours go out to work at Victory HQ in the desert. The wives aren't encouraged to ask about their husbands' jobs....
From the outset, it's obvious that in Victory, all is not as it seems. When Alice sees a plane crash in the desert, she allows curiosity to get the better of her (an oddity of the script, by Katie Silberman, is that the plane crash isn't clearly explained) and before long cracks start to appear in the smooth surface of life in Victory.
Florence Pugh is a gifted actor and her performance as Alice is first-rate, as we've come to expect. There are some interesting ideas floating around in this film, and it's enjoyed huge commercial success, but there are good reasons why most critics haven't been enthused. Harry Styles is an easy target for criticism, because he doesn't have the experience to give real depth to the part of Jack, but he doesn't do a bad job.
The real problem, I fear, is with the script. The shadows of The Stepford Wives and The Prisoner, both of which are classics, loom large over Don't Worry Darling. However, there is no reason why this kind of story can't work very well indeed, if the themes and ideas from films and TV shows of the past are reworked in a fresh and engaging way. The trouble is that the story is told in a clunky and sometimes incoherent manner with numerous loose ends dangling, but not in a good way. I didn't expect a film as good as the original The Stepford Wives, but even so I found this one frustrating and disappointing. A missed opportunity.
1 comment:
Yes, you are totally right, despite all the noise about that film, it was too much hyped and not worth the effort. It may be my age (!) but just cannot understand all the noise about, and alleged attraction of, Harry Styles. I have tried.
My own tips for top young actors include Samuel Bottomley, Nicholas Hoult and Johnny Flynn. And I would be very happy to see Nicholas Galitzine as the latest incarnation of James Bond; a new Bond for a new era, but back to the Fleming roots of both character and motivation (the name as much an ID and rank identifier as 007) Not only ridiculously handsome but has that IT factor and charisma, and already has all the skillset to step into Bond in a heartbeat. Even does krav maga in real life, for goodness' sake.
Not to mention a real life history so crazy no-one would believe it as fiction. But that's another story.
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