Florence Pugh follows up her successes in BLACK WIDOW, LITTLE WOMEN and MIDSOMMER with a role as a housewife in a candy-colored 1950s-style planned community in DON’T WORRY, DARLING, actor-turned-director Olivia Wilde’s second feature and her follow-up to BOOK SMART. Harry Styles plays Pugh’s husband Jack, who works at a isolated desert research facility doing mysterious top-secret work, while Alice (Florence Pugh) stays home cleaning, shopping and drinking poolside with the other wives at their home in the planned suburban community of Victory.
The film opens with a wild cocktail party, with the women in cinched waist ’50s dresses and men in the era’s casual shirts, downing martinis like water in a chic mid-century ranch house. The next morning, the smiling wives cook breakfast before sending their men off to work in a synchronized exit of candy-colored, chromed cars from the desert subdivision, before the wives start on their day of housework and shopping.
Something DON’T WORRY DARLING does brilliantly is capture the mid-century period look, from the tiny-waisted, full-skirted dresses in colorful floral patterns to sleek chrome-trimmed light wood furniture to the “futuristic” chrome-trimmed cars. Other fine mid-century period touches in the sets and the spot-on look of the subdivision houses and yards complete the image. The impressive art direction and Florence Pugh’s strong performance, showcased well by director Olivia Wilde, are the main reasons to see this clever if imperfect science fiction drama-thriller. A nicely underplayed, sympathetic performance by Harry Styles adds a perfect grace note.
The “Stepford Wives” vibe is palpable right from the start, with all the smiling conformity and polished surface perfection, so we know something must be lurking under the surface. The film quickly creates the look and feel of a Douglas Sirk movie crossed with Sam Mendes’ 2008 REVOLUTIONARY ROAD, of a conformist, male-centric world that seems perfect on the surface – at least for some – but walking a tight-rope of hidden tensions. “Ideal” planned communities like this one were a real thing in the ’50s and early ’60s, born of post-WWII optimism, where everything was planned out and color-matched, with people who fit in as exactly as the coordinating-color mid-century ranch houses. That this community development is isolated in a remote desert locations next to the facility where the men all work (and it is only the men who work), where a company is doing some kind of secret work, completes the picture. There are hints of a big project the company works on, maybe a military contract, and again, the Manhattan Project and Cold War nukes spring to mind.
The prosperous planned community is led by Victory’s charismatic CEO Frank (Chris Pine) and his elegant wife Shelley (Gemma Chan). Director Olivia Wilde also appears in the film as a neighbor named Bunny.
But only a few minutes in, and one scene upends some of our assumptions about Victory. Alice and her neighbor wives are participating in an exercise class when a Black woman bursts in. Everyone turns and stares, and we expect racist outrage typical of the segregated 1950s. But no, they all know her, she is a neighbor named Margaret (Kiki Layne), and what is causing the dropped jaws is her distraught emotional state. Clearly, she is losing it but it is not sympathy that greets her but a gossipy, get-a-grip discomfort. Apparently she has been struggling with a trauma but the community would rather it be covered up and ignored, so they can get back to cocktail hour in typical ’50s style.
The scene reveals things may not be quite what they seem but even if we are not in the past, there is still plenty of the era here. And there is more to come in this science fiction tale. DON’T WORRY DARLING is a clever idea, and although not everything is perfect in this film, Florence Pugh darn well is.
Florence Pugh is the main reason to see this film (along with the polished art direction), although it does offer an interesting sci-fi fantasy tale with a femme-centric bent. Pugh dominates every scene, capturing the right combination of dewy young ’50s housewife innocence and a sense of a person with more depth, heart and curiosity than some of the other Stepford-like wives. While the other wives are unrelentingly critical of the neighbor who is losing it, Pugh’s soft-hearted Alice wants to extend more understanding and even tries to reach out to her on her own. But what the troubled neighbor says is both confusing and disturbing, and involves breaking some of the Victory company’s fundamental rules, rules that are required of families working on their secret project and are conditions of the well-paid, comfortable life in the planned community.
While the husbands drive cars to work, the wives ride a trolley, which takes them to the town’s shopping, schools, gym and so forth. The trolley travels out to the edge of town, beyond which is desert, which they are told is dangerous. They are told not to venture into it, for their own safety, and also not to approach Victory’s headquarters. lest they endanger the secret work. There are sometimes earthquake-like events, and the specter of something like underground nuclear weapons testing looms, but questions are forbidden under the secrecy rules.
We watch as Pugh’s Alice’s open heart, curiosity and her previously untapped brains lead her down paths that threaten to uncover what is hidden and upset. More cracks in the facade open with the arrival of a new couple, with Sydney Chandler as Violet, a shy, dark-haired Audrey Hepburn-ish wife.
Pugh handles Alice’s shifting emotional state and evolving character with impressive mastery. As we see Pugh’s Alice drawn into the mystery, her husband Jack becomes unsettled. While Jack remains supportive and loving, others in the community start to change. Harry Styles is perfect in the role of Jack, stepping back and letting the powerhouse Pugh shine, by not getting in her way. Early in this film’s development, there was talk of casting Shia LaBeouf in this role, an actor who likely would have battled Pugh for audience attention, but the right casting choice was made. Harry Styles’ sweeter, low-key performance makes a more poignant and effective film.
However, not everything is perfect in Olivia Wilde’s sci-fi drama, a big departure from her first BOOK SMART, and the film starts stronger than it finishes. Close attention is needed to what is said in later scenes to unravel the mystery but the story is resolved well in the end.
Still, DON’T WORRY DARLING is a worthwhile film, as Florence Pugh continues her rocket rise with another strong performance, and Olivia Wilde demonstrates her skill with a film that is a marked departure from her first. Add in a nice performance for the Harry Styles fans (including a surprise dance sequence) plus visual delights of the polished mid-century landscape and a femme-empowering sci-fi tale, and you get entertainment value enough to satisfy.
DON’T WORRY DARLING opens Friday, Sept. 23 in theaters.
RATING: 2.5 out of 4 stars
