Why "Don’t Worry Darling" is a Classic Case of Great Concept, Poor Execution

Olivia Wilde | Creative Commons photo

The opinions reflected in this OpEd are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of staff, faculty and students of The King's College.

*Spoiler Warning

“Don’t Worry Darling,” directed by Oliva Wilde, made its debut Friday, September 23rd, with a solid $19.2M opening at the box office. Despite harsh critics, its adoring audience score of 75% gave the film enough sales to cover up its current escapade with the tabloids. Wilde’s star-studded cast featuring Harry Styles, Florence Pugh, and Chris Pine helped her most recent motion picture receive international coverage. Yet, despite the amount of work put into bringing the film to life, that same effort did not equate to when it finally hit theaters.

The plot center’s around Alice (Florence Pugh) and Jack Chambers (Harry Styles), a couple who lives in a picture-perfect neighborhood within the community of Victory, a fabricated reality. As the husbands go off to work for the town’s cryptic company out in the desert, the wives are left to take care of the home and enjoy their lavish lives. However, after Alice witnesses one of her neighbors, Margret (Kiki Layne), commit suicide, she begins to notice the cracks. Ultimately, Alice discovers how Victory is a simulation orchestrated by Frank (Chris Pine) for men like her husband that want an ideal life but cannot provide that for the women they love in the real world.

Wilde shined a light on the theme of misogyny, showcasing men who blamed women for their lack of romance and unfulfillment of sexual desires. Unable to exercise their wants, these involuntary celibates (aka incels) developed a deep resentment towards them. Wilde had a lot of material at her disposal to create a different narrative on empowerment, stepping away from Hollywood’s blatant efforts to be “woke” and strike a new conversation. 

As seen in the film, the husbands in the real world are far more different from their idealized counterparts. Their pride overshadows their ability to have genuine relationships with the women that come into their lives, thus enabling their insecurities to succumb to them; stealing the wives and forcing them into a fake reality. She had the opportunity to use her film to acknowledge the dangers of this toxic mindset and how to prevent it from becoming a threat to women.

Unfortunately, Wilde’s execution did not do well in efficiently communicating this concept, both on and off the screen.

Many of the scenes felt forced, with a number of red herrings thrown at the audience. One of the prime examples is the egg scene in the middle of the film, where Alice is attempting to make food for a party when she discovers all the eggs are hollow. Odd, because before, Alice could cook a lot with eggs throughout the movie just fine, so how would it not be the case at that moment? 

In addition, the poor pacing adds to inconsistencies as well. Alice is already asking questions at the beginning, with very cliche responses from Jack and the other husbands that are vague and mysterious. It felt as though Wilde desperately wanted her film to be a psychological horror, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Furthermore, the disparity between the cast and crew added to the lack of clear direction in the film. Florence had little to say about her involvement in “Don’t Worry Darling” on social media, unhappy with the marketing of the film, as it heavily emphasized her sex scenes with Harry Styles.

As she said in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, “When it’s reduced to your sex scenes, or to watch the most famous man in the world go down on someone, it’s not why we do it. It’s not why I’m in this industry…” Ironic, given how the film was supposed to shed light on women being more significant than what society says they are. 

Florence Pugh has limited her promotion with the movie, “Don’t Worry Darling’s” red carpet screening at the Venice Film Festival in Italy being the only form of press she’s engaged with thus far. 

With Florence Pugh’s discomfort during the production process, it’s evident that Olivia Wilde failed to communicate the message she tried to convey on screen with her main female lead. She ultimately forgets to tell her story of women empowerment, which in turn, made itself obvious to the audience.

Angelina Ispir is a freshman at The King’s College majoring in Journalism, Culture and Society.