Written by a diehard Florence Pugh stan and movie addict
Hadassah Cohen
On September 23rd, 2022, Don’t Worry Darling, starring Florence Pugh and Harry Styles, took theaters across the US by storm. The movie premiered at the 79th Venice film festival on September 5th and it is estimated to have made a total of $82.9 million at the global box office.
Based on a story by Carey Van Dyke, Shane Van Dyke, and screenwriter Katie Silberman, the 2-hour psychological thriller forces viewers to leave reality behind and follow the main character Alice (Florence Pugh) into a 1950s high-class simulation. The movie questions the lifestyle where husbands were the breadwinners of the family and their days consisted of going off to work while their wives stayed home cooking, cleaning, taking care of the children, and preparing the house for their husband’s return. The cast was able to send unsettling shivers down your spine while being set in a remote neighborhood oasis, where nothing but smiles and laughter are allowed. This experimental community was called the Victory project, however the meaning behind its name was unclear until the very end of the movie, leaving spectators struggling to come up with explanations. Although the neighborhood was dreamlike and filled with every accommodation you would need for a fulfilling life, something didn’t seem to add up. The movie makes obvious references to the stepford wives while having a more modern take on it.
Are we surprised Florence Pugh took on this intense, creepy role? After her performance in Midsommar, a scandinavian horror film, Florence demonstrated her ability to push cinematic boundaries, taking viewers to places they had never been before, and ensuring they would never want to go back. She and the rest of the cast could evoke feelings of comfort, joy, mystery, and insecurity. She portrayed a 1950’s content housewife who started to question her lifestyle as the walls in her home quite literally started to close in on her. The more she questioned how she came to be in a so-called perfect lifestyle in which she was living, and she didn’t feel like she fit in it, the more the men around her played with her mind and gaslit her into thinking she was crazy. This is used as a reference to show the often oppressive and objectifying system women find themselves stuck in.
One of the most powerful scenes in the movie was when Jack (Harry Styles) subtly broke the fourth wall of acting, something that is not common in the filmmaking community. This is when a character in a movie refers to the “real world” by either speaking to the audience or in this case simply looking at them. After a chilling conversation with Alice, Jack slowly turned to look at the camera, making eye contact with viewers in an eerie way. His motion was paired with a slow sinister tune that added to the mystery and fright of the scene. This technique was an effective way to foreshadow the later shocking events of the movie.
This is an incredible creative movie that questions femininity and women’s rights and can be applied in today’s society. It is eye opening and shocking and definitely a must- watch. Although it can be unclear at times, once you get to the end, you feel like you not only watched a movie but witnessed history take place.