Graphic by Gabby Gagnon '24.
By Ames Fortunato ’26
Staff Writer
Content warning: This article discusses gendered violence.
“Don’t Worry Darling,” starring Florence Pugh and Harry Styles was released in U.S. theaters on Sept. 23, 2022. According to Forbes, the film “won the weekend domestic box office with a $19.2 million opening and the approval of fans.” The film, directed by Olivia Wilde, follows a 1950s housewife, Alice (Pugh), who discovers the truth about her husband Jack’s (Styles) job at an organization known as the Victory Project. The cast also features actors Chris Pine and Gemma Chan.
In the central plot twist of the movie, it is revealed that the life Alice knows is fake. The false reality was created by Frank (Pine), and is known to the outside world as the Victory project. The movie is reminiscent of earlier films such as “The Truman Show” and “The Stepford Wives,” in that it uses the trope of the Platonic Cave. The Platonic Cave trope, derived from Plato’s “The Republic,” tells the story of characters who discover that what appears to be true is actually not true. Within this cinematic trope, this discovery is usually met with some resistance to this false world.
“Don’t Worry Darling” has some excellent aspects to it, but it is also flawed. The most stunning elements of “Don’t Worry Darling” are its cinematography and music. Most of the movie takes place in a bright and idyllic setting, with a few notable exceptions, such as scenes when Alice is in the real world. The cinematography establishes the movie’s tone and creates a sense of perfection, with bright colors and a notably highly-manufactured setting. Additionally, the cinematography is repetitive, which conveys the sense of monotony of the lives of the women within the project. For example, close-up shots of Alice making breakfast repeat throughout the movie and almost identical scenes of the housewives waving goodbye to their husbands every morning exemplify the unvaried daily routines of the wives. Beyond the cinematography, the music successfully contributes to the atmosphere of the movie. During tense scenes, the music is heart-racing, the songs are fast-paced and consistently reach a crescendo at the apex of the scene.
Upon first glance, “Don’t Worry Darling” is a feminist film. The film’s concept hinges on the discomfort and feelings of suspicion Alice has about the world in which she lives. It is eventually revealed that the concept of the film surrounds men trapping their wives in a simulation and controlling them. Ultimately, at the end of the movie, Alice seems to free herself from this simulation, though it is unclear if she was actually successful. Despite a seemingly triumphant ending for Alice, in many places, the film’s supposed feminism feels surface level.
Wilde described the movie as centering on “female pleasure,” but it’s unclear whether this movie truly depicts it, adding to the superficiality of the film’s feminism. Linden Wade ’26 stated that Wilde “said in her statement that [it] is a movie full of female pleasure, [with] only female orgasms in this movie, and I thought, ‘but the sex was never initiated by [Alice].” Wade continued, “Considering the whole point of the movie was men taking their wives to an alternate universe where they could make them their objects, how is that a movie about female sexual pleasure?”
Another disappointing aspect of “Don’t Worry Darling” was the complete disregard for characters other than Alice. After the movie’s release, Kiki Layne, who played Margaret, alleged in an Instagram post that many of her scenes were removed. Margaret is the wife of one of the men in the town who has discovered the truth about the Victory Project, so more scenes with her could have made the film much more compelling.
There might have also been more focus on Frank, the creator of the Victory Project. Frank’s intentions for creating the Victory Project are frustratingly never revealed, although the audience can infer them. The assumptions audiences can make — based on the information they are given — are very simplistic, but an explicit statement of Frank’s intent could contribute to more complex and interesting storytelling.
Overall, “Don’t Worry Darling” wasn’t terrible. It was enjoyable to watch, and after the first viewing, it’s even a good movie. However, by digging deeper into the film itself, it’s clear that it lacked some essential filmmaking elements and had room to improve.