I'm Not That Worried, Darling- 'Don’t Worry Darling'

Writing this about an hour after seeing Olivia Wilde's Don't Worry Darling in the cinema with my mum, I can tell you her review of the film would be very different from mine.

This was Wilde's second directorial film, following the teen comedy Booksmart. That’s a fan favorite for many, including myself, because of its original spin on a classic genre. Unlike her debut, Don't Worry Darling has had a lot more media attention surrounding the cast and crew's activities and behavior. Who doesn’t love a bit of Olivia Wilde, Harry Styles, Florence Pugh gossip? I don’t have a strong opinion on Wilde herself, though I wasn’t a fan of her “Miss Flo” comments. However, I didn’t plan on focusing much on the gossip surrounding the film—mainly because I have a lot of thoughts on the actual movie—but I will say this: if the director were a man, would it be different?

Anyway, onto the film...

Florence fucking Pugh. As many of us already thought, Pugh is an amazing actress. She was brilliant in Midsommar and Little Women, so I was excited to see her lead in a female-directed film, and boy did she deliver. As the film got stranger and stranger, Pugh absolutely nailed the gaslit craziness.

The movie is set in a vibrant, peaceful, 1950s desert-isolated development (which was aesthetically cool as hell), and Pugh fit perfectly, playing the doting and very horny housewife to a tee. I was about to write a short note explaining how the score was terrifying—literally stressing me out for the entirety of the film—so I googled who composed it to give a name drop, and of course, it was the legendary John Powell. So what more do I have to say? The score was excellent.

I feel like I have to mention the other main protagonist, Mr. Harry Styles. I had done the classic thing: assumed he was bad because of the confusing, accented, drama-GCSE-esque clips of him yelling that I’d seen on Twitter before watching the film. But that was one of the reasons I was excited to see it—was he really that bad? Answer: no. I didn’t think he was bad. If anything, I thought he was quite good, but that’s all I have to say because, to me, he didn’t stand out. That’s not a comment on him doing poorly, but more about how good the film’s cast, set, and score were as a whole. Quick note on how much I loved Bunny and Peg—their characters added a lot more comedic flair than I expected, and both Olivia Wilde and Kate Berlant’s performances were spot on.

For a 123-minute runtime, Don’t Worry Darling leaves room for criticism (from me) about whether all the scenes were necessary. More and more new films go over that two-hour mark, and more and more I feel they could’ve been shorter. Don’t Worry Darling didn’t really make me feel that way. I enjoyed most of the film, didn’t feel it drag in the middle, and was genuinely interested in each scene. That said, I didn’t like all of the choices—especially in the concluding scenes. Shelley stabs and presumably kills Frank, saying, "It's my turn now." I thought that scene was utter bullshit. When I expressed that opinion to my mum, she suggested the possibility of a sequel, as the scene stood alone, leading to no real conclusion and just left as a loose end, which felt cheap to me. In films aimed at being box office hits or streaming successes, including a clear loose end near the finale makes sense, but in Don’t Worry Darling, it felt messy.

On the whole, the plot was confusing but fun. I enjoyed it, and I would recommend it to a friend—though now that I’ve seen it, I don’t think I’d care to see it again. But I do think the film is just that: a fun watch.

Evie 27 September 2022