Plot: It is the 1950s and Alice, who is living in a community designed by Victory, suspects the head of the company of having sinister motives.
Don't Worry Darling is perhaps this year's most talked about thriller and it isn't because of the premise of the movie but the drama surrounding its release.
Was Shia LaBeouf fired or did he leave of his own accord? Did Harry Styles really spit on Chris Pine at the premiere? Did Florence Pugh purposely not attend press conferences because she didn’t like the fact Olivia Wilde's affair with Harry Styles was taking precedence over her role in the movie?
If this was supposed to be a marketing strategy to propel the film's popularity, it did backfire and that is a disservice to what it could achieve if promoted appropriately.
Don't Worry Darling isn't a bad movie. The marketing was.
It's about second chances, regrets, and ultimately taking away someone's choice.
It has a compelling narrative even though it can get a little confusing when it tries to be a little too scientific.
DON'T WORRY DARLING Plot
It is the 1950s and people in communities have dinner parties and games that include the wives balancing a tray of a glass of alchol on their heads.
They have to dance while doing that and of course they do drop it except for the director of this movie who is also playing a character called Bunny.
Alice and Jack are a lovey-dovey couple with lovely friends. They live exciting lives that include attending dinner parties and then going for rides and circling a random spot in the desert.
They then go home to be intimate. Morning comes and it is Alice's jib to make breakfast and a lunch box for Jack to take when he goes to work.
Jack leaves with the other husbands in the neighborhood at the same time. It is the duty of the wives to wave their husbands goodbye.
While all of them are already dressed, Alice who is either lazy or doesn’t like to dress up first thing in the morning, is wearing only a shirt.
The next thing on the list is household chores. Even the windows are cleaned everyday as well as the bathtub. All this while they listen to the head of Victory Project, Frank give a sort of sermon and encouragement to the residents.
Finally, Alice and the other wives can go to ballet class where they must learn to be graceful. They learn how to do a lot of balancing on their toes, yet can't balance a tray on their heads. Or were they drunk that time?
The class is taught by Frank's wife Shelley. A new resident is introduced and welcomed into the community.
Alice and Bunny are the best of friends, and clearly Bunny's children like Alice more. Alice and Jack aren't looking to have kids just yet.
The residents are invited to Frank's party where he gives them all a pep talk and everyone cheers for him. He's the hero of their town.
A woman suddenly speaks up. It is Margaret and she looks a little stunned as she claims that none of them should have been here.
Alice gets more curious than the others at her outburst. Margaret's husband pulls her away so that the others can gossip about Margaret being mentally ill ever since she lost her son in the desert.
Alice is pulled away by Jack who has nothing on his mind except for her. As they get intimate, Frank appears and becomes a voyeur for a little while. Alice looks at him too and is unable to stop Jack. Frank smiles smugly and walks away.
The next day is the same, except it is also roaming about in a trolley day.
Alice just wants to travel in a trolley when she spots a plane in the sky which then goes down. Alice asks the trolley driver to go to that spot so they can help whoever was on that plane. The driver has no interest whatsoever. He didn't see any plane so it isn't his problem.
Alice goes running off, possibly because her instincts are to help people. A part of her reality seems to seep into her consciousness which is why she goes to help. The people in Victory are conditioned to stick to routine but a change is occuring within Alice and giving us a hint as to what is going on.
Alice runs across the desert and up a mountain only to touch glass and freak out. She sees confusing visions before falling unconscious.
When she awakens, Jack is already home taking care of her. She wonders how she got back home but Jack tells her she was already there and sleeping. Alice is confused but believes she must be dreaming.
However, later she receives a call from Margaret who talks about the plane and that something is off at Victory. Alice has been told that herblofe in Victory is perfect and she wouldn't want it to change for anything. She pretty much tells Margaret she is crazy and tells her she wants no part in her nutty speculation.
Alice resumes her routine until she notices Margaret standing atop a roof one morning. Margaret turns to her, slits her throat and falls.
Alice runs to her but is suddenly pulled back by men in red jumpsuits. Some of them approach Margaret's body and pick her up. Alice loses conciousness.
When she awakens, she is at home with Jack and the doctor. The doctor thinks Alice has become exhausted after cleaning the bathtubs and going to ballet everyday, and so needs to rest.
Alice wants to know if Margaret is dead. The doctor denies that she is and evades her questions before finally admitting that Margaret had fallen off the roof because she was bad at cleaning windows. She needed stitches and had to be sent away for a little while. Alice wants to see her and talk to her but the doctor keeps making excuses.
Realizing she is being lied to, Alice steals the doctor's files that he has been carrying around. She goes through Margaret's file and finds most of it blacked out. She throws it into the fire, and her suspicions grow.
She begins to wonder if perhaps what Margaret was saying was true. When she makes the same breakfast menu (eggs and bacon)the next day, she finds the eggs are lighter. She cracks them and finds nothing inside. Her reality in Victory is beginning to crack.
At one point she wraps cling film around herself and then tears it apart possibly signifying that she is no longer brainwashed by whatever she is being told about Victory.
At the dance class, she sees Margaret instead of herself in her reflection. Margaret bangs her head against the mirror and cracks it. Alice freaks out and everyone present questions her mental health.
Just like Margaret, Alice is becoming aware of what this world really is like.
Shaken, she lets Jack drag her to an event where Frank announces Jack's promotion. Jack is thrilled that Frank not only knows his name but has promoted him too.
Alice runs into the bathroom, and Bunny comes after her. Alice tells her she feels that something is off about Victory.
While she is saying that, Frank tells Jack to dance and he spins and tap dances at Frank's orders, just like a puppet. Jack will do anything to keep all this going.
Bunny is not supportive of Alice's suspicions and tells her to shut up or risk ending up losing everything. Alice isn't going to give up her suspicions. Since it is a risk to even think anything against Victory, Bunny breaks all ties with her.
Alice's suspicions grow twofold and when she hosts a dinner, the guests are surprised that Frank is ready to come to their house. They ask where Bunny is and Alice evades that question.
Frank comes in and everyone does their best to impress him. He keeps on looking smug.
He approaches Alice who tries to keep her cool but he tells her he knows she has been suspecting him and his project. He also tells her that she can keep trying to investigate but at the end of the day she can't do anything but go on with her routine and cook dinners for him.
Alice is all riled up. During dinner, instead of eating and enjoying the meal, Alice instigates her guests and reminds them that they all have the same backstory of meeting their partners on a train after they dropped their ticket. They have also gone or are from similar places.
The wives are jostled but Frank announces that Alice has been to headquarters. Jack gets super-pissed but Frank keeps being smug and Alice ends up insulting him. Shelley tells her to shut up and says she won't stand Alice insulting her husband.
They all leave.
Jack tries to stablize the situation but it doesn't work out. He sits dejectedly and tells Alice he can't believe she went against him. Alice tells him she didn't and explains she doesn't feel safe here and wants to leave. She even tells him she is ready to start a family but just not here. Jack agrees to leave.
He waits in the car while she packs a snack too and her bags. She rushes into the car only to see men in red jumpsuits.
She begs Jack to take her away but he explains he can't help himself and it is good for both of them.
Alice is taken into a facility where she is given electroshocks. Alice remembers everything prior to her coming to Victory.
DON'T WORRY DARLING Ending Explained
She used to be a doctor. Yes, it isn't the 1950s. It is modern times.
Jack has lost his job and keeps watching some videos online. When Alice returns after a long shift, he tells her he didn’t eat anything or cook anything because she didn’t pick up her phone. She explains she was in the operation theatre and couldn't take her phone with her.
Jack can sense Alice pulling away from him and so when he comes across Frank's online video about the Victory Project, he signs up for it.
The Victory project is a simulation of sort that tricks wives into believing they are in the 1950s and need to keep having dinner parties. Jack inserts himself into the program too because he thinks that is the only way to save their relationship.
Alice awakens and is "healed" by Victory standards. But she is triggered once again and her reality in Victory begins to blur and intermingle with her actual reality.
Jack confesses and tells her about the program. Alice is horrified that he took her choices away. She was happy being a doctor even though Jack believed she wasn’t. She wants to leave him but Alice is inconsolable. In an effort to free herself from Jack's embrace, she knocks him out with a glass only to end up killing him.
She walks out of the house, blood all over her clothes. Bunny comes running up to her and tells her that she knew what the Victory Project was because she voluntarily allowed herself to be in it so that she could have her kids with her in this reality. However, she tells Alice that she not only killed Jack in this reality but in actuality too. And therefore the Victory staff has become aware of this.
The people in red jumpsuits appear and the bulbs keep bursting. The men question what Alice did to Jack.
Bunny helps Alice escape as the red jumpsuits chase her.
Alice manages a car chase and ends up causing some destruction. Frank learns of Alice's escape and Shelley, pissed, stabs her husband saying he messed up everything. Was Stella the actual head of Victory then?
She claims to put a stop to Alice.
Alice, being a very distracted driver, crashes into a rock and then has to run up the rest of the mountain barefoot.
When she reaches the top, she feels Jack come up behind her and embrace her. She remembers the time they promised to be there for each other.
She touches the glass, saying goodbye to Jack and beating the red jumpsuit men before they could reach her.
Cut to black and we hear Alice breathing.
So, Shelley's brilliant plan was to send a memory of Jack? Alice killed him and then didn't even stop to weep. Clearly, she wasn't going to stop because of that.
Turns out Shelley wasn't so great at keeping things under control either.
And the Victory Project becomes unstable once a woman kills her husband (handler?). Are all the residents connected to each other since their realities are disturbed too?
The movie ends.
Don't Worry Darling is a thrilling ride with great acting skills by the cast.
SCARE SCALE: 3.5/5
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