Tropic Sprockets / Don’t Worry Darling
By Ian Brockway
Olivia Wilde helms a new Twilight Zone chiller with “Don’t Worry Darling.” [Currently showing at the Tropic. For showtimes go to TropicCinema.com.] The film is crisp and colorful with an eerie 1950s setting and it explores territory set by Ira Levin’s The Stepford Wives.
The only drawback is that there is not much daring here. The film is more style than social commentary and it feels much like the original 1975 classic by Bryan Forbes.
Alice (Florence Pugh) is a devoted upper middle class wife with perfect hair, makeup, wardrobe and nails. She lives in an exclusive desert community with other wives very like her. Jack (Harry Styles) comes home from work each day expecting a roast on the table. Presumably he works for the government.
One day Margaret (KiKi Layne) tells Alice that things are not as they seem. Alice shakes her head.
When cooking breakfast, Alice realizes that there is nothing inside the eggs. Or is she hallucinating?
At dance class echoing “Suspiria” Margaret knocks her head repeatedly into the glass window. The women are horrified.
Meanwhile, Alice sees a plane crash and seeks help. This breaks a cardinal rule in the community: women aren’t allowed outside unaccompanied.
Margaret calls Alice trying to warn her, but she ignores her friend.
The next scene is quite creepy. Margaret takes matters into her own hands.
Alice is traumatized by what she saw in Margaret. No worry, Alice is told, Margaret is alive and well. But there are no concrete answers as to Margaret’s fate.
The men have nightly belligerent slobberfests swilling martinis and grabbing flesh with either one wife or the other.
Frank (Chris Pine) is the handsome leader of the community known as The Victory Program. It quickly becomes evident that the desert residents are involved in a cult.
Pine does very well here, appropriately stern and almost scary.
By this time, Alice is getting definite vibrations that things are not good, not good at all.
No one listens to her of course.
Pugh is excellent as Alice, although her performance is slightly reminiscent of Mia Farrow in “Rosemary’s Baby.”
Jack gets more aggressive as he is promoted in The Victory Program and Alice becomes desperate.
Shortly thereafter we are treated to a surprise that feels like an anti-climax. We are shown dreary imagery echoing “Joker.”
The setting of “Don’t Worry Darling” delights the eye. The film is wonderfully shot in beautiful colors and modern 50s decor and architecture reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright. There are weird Busby Berkeley images that build to a hypnotic rhythm, yet regarding plot, the film delivers and explains too much. Yes, it is disquieting and unnerving that the women are treated like machines. But then the film doesn’t go anywhere exciting. The explanation feels too conventional.
That being said, you will be entertained, but don’t expect a revolution.
The best part of the film is the sight of Harry Styles intoxicated and monstrous, screaming with veins jumping from his neck.
The horror of masculinity.
The cars featured in the film are gorgeous and if you see a red uniformed man in the theater, head for the exit.
Write Ian at [email protected]
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