Don’t Worry, Darling! A Review of the Thriller With 50s’ Glam, Toxic Masculinity and Harry Styles
Last Friday, at around 6pm, I arrived at the Avalon Mall to see Don’t Worry Darling with four of my friends and about 100 Harry Styles fans. Or 200? However many teenage girls it takes to fill up a movie theatre. I waited in line for popcorn for 45 minutes. Although, the Cineplex popcorn is more fulfilling than any film I’ve seen in the past three years. By the time I had sat down in my seat with my popcorn and cookies-and-cream Hershey’s bar in my lap, it finally dawned on me that I had no idea what this movie was about. I didn’t even know the genre. In all honesty, any publicity about the film I consumed prior to arriving at the cinema was all in relation to backstage tea, drama and Twitter memes about Harry Styles spitting on Chris Pine at the Venice Film Festival. I also knew that the reviews weren’t great, so my expectations were low. I knew Florence Pugh would be fantastic (and I was right,) but other than that, I was expecting a hot mess. I’ve never been happier to be proven wrong!
The 50s’ Aesthetics Are Amazing
From the opening scene, I knew that even if the movie turned out to be awful, I would still be saving pictures of the dresses and 50s’ kitchen decor to my Pinterest board. The film’s protagonist Alice (Florence Pugh) and her husband Jack (Harry Styles) live in a company town called the Victory Project created by Jack’s boss, Frank (Chris Pine). The Victory Project town is basically a colourful and vibrant 50s’ era Palm Springs. Well, if Palm Springs had a cul-de-sac where all the houses were nearly identical and all of the men on the street drove different coloured Jaguar convertibles to their top-secret jobs every morning. Once the husbands all speed away in their fancy cars, the wives are left to clean their houses in beautiful, 50s’ inspired colourful gowns, up-dos and heels.
While I don’t love the obvious gender norms which are clearly heavily enforced in the town, I do love Jack and Alice’s house. I mean, this house is spectacular. An open concept, one story home. Gorgeous, rich earth tones in the living room with the yellow velvet cushions on a cream couch. The light brown, wooden cupboards in the plant-filled kitchen behind a baby blue island. Even their matching turquoise set of bread knives is cute, not to mention the bright orange vacuume cleaner. I hope to one day possess the level of elegance that Alice has vacuuming her already spotless, white carpeted floors in a silk dress and apron. There were also a lot of windows and glass sliding doors, which I initially really liked but now I have a permanent fear of windows and glass in general. If you go see the movie… Well, you’ll know what I mean.
And finally, my favourite part of the entire film…
The sea green bathtub! Yes folks, you heard that correctly. Jack and Alice have a SEA GREEN BATHTUB. Thank you to the production designer Katie Byron, if it weren’t for her I’d still be living life not knowing the purpose of my existence – which is to one day own a sea green bath tub.
What’s Scarier, Ballet or Misogyny?
Now onto some of the more thrilling aspects of the film. (Get it? Because it’s a thriller?) The sound design and cinematography was so effective. Too effective. Remember when I said I have a fear of glass? Well, there’s that and my new fear of ever setting foot in a dance studio again. I will be selling my pointe shoes immediately so if anyone’s interested, let me know. I genuinely don’t even know if I can even enjoy ballet as an art form anymore. At one point, I thought I was having an asthma attack because I just inadvertently stopped breathing for a whole minute and then started gasping for air. The intense classical music that got progressively faster and increased in intensity from beginning to end did not help with that. At all.
While the film is a thriller and contains many fantastical, far-fetched scenes meant to shock audiences, what shocked me the most were the parts of the movie that were a little too similar to our current society. It delved quite deeply into the dangers of toxic masculinity and the growing number of misogynistic echo chambers people can find themselves getting sucked into online. There is a population of people that exist, (like the “Make America Great Again” crowd,) who want our society to regress back to a time like the 50s’. And while I might love the kitchen appliances and bathtubs, I’m also a big fan of people having human rights. Especially now, when the Supreme Court in the US are overturning laws and reversing years of progress, a movie that essentially shows a heightened version of what these types of mentalities can result in is far more daunting than any jumpscare could be. The plot twist near the end was so unexpected that people around me in the theatre audibly gasped. I won’t be giving any spoilers, but if you see your boyfriend starting to listen to anti-Feminist-gym-bro podcasts, leave him now!
We Can’t Go Any Further Without Talking About Harry Styles
Now, onto what I’m sure 99% of you clicked the link to this article to read about. The acting, specifically the actors and more specifically, one particular actor – Harry Styles.
But first! A disclaimer – I don’t want to anger the Harry Styles fans. I’d like to take this moment to remind you all that you’ve made it this far! We’re basically besties at this point! Please do not be offended by any critiques of Harry Styles that may or may not be written beyond this point. Thank you.
I am not going to say that Harry Styles is a bad actor, because I don’t think he is! What I will say is that there was a plethora of on screen talent in this movie. Chris Pine, Nick Kroll, Gemma Chan and Kate Berlant to name a few. Kiki Layne’s performance as Margaret was award worthy (even though she says most of her scenes were cut, and I have a bone to pick with Miss Olivia about that). Unfortunately for Harry, who is new to acting, he just wasn’t on the same level as his castmates. Additionally to his detriment, most of his scenes were with Florence Pugh who is quite possibly one of the best actresses in our generation. On top of that, this is a thriller film, a genre where she truly shines. In one of the most dramatic scenes in the film, Florence Pugh was delivering a tragic, heartbreaking performance and then the cameras cut to Harry. And his performance was also tragic.. Just not in the right way. At another point, during his only really intense scene by himself, most of the audience started to laugh. To his credit, I think it’s hard for people to see Harry Styles as anyone other than Harry Styles even if he was a fabulous actor.
Well, this movie has been surrounded by lots of social media hullabaloo and controversies, but it really has everything. There’s Harry Styles in a movie looking like he’s in an SNL sketch about Harry Styles being in a movie, Florence Pugh in a thriller, beautiful 50s’ gowns, great wigs, socio-political commentary and great montages of cooking breakfast and pouring coffee. While Olivia Wilde is surrounded by a lot of controversy, and I’m sure some of it is completely valid, I thought she did a spectacular job directing this film. If you like being reminded of the terrifying state of the world right now through a fun, 50s’ California lens and plenty of heart attack inducing jumpscares – go see Don’t Worry Darling in theatres now!
