By Kara Thompson

“Don’t Worry Darling” had the potential to be one of the best films of 2022; with Olivia Wilde directing, an intriguing story and a star-studded cast including Florence Pugh, Harry Styles, Chris Pine, Gemma Chan and Nick Kroll. But rumors of tension among the cast and crew and a whirlwind of controversies following the premiere may have overshadowed the movie itself.

During the film’s premiere at the Venice Film Festival Sept. 23, Pugh did very little to promote the movie — missing the press circuit and arriving late to the film. Her representatives said this was due to her scheduling conflicts with her upcoming project, “Dune II,” which Wilde confirmed at the press conference, but many fans speculated that she had a feud with Wilde.

Also at the premiere, Styles and Wilde seemed to be ignoring each other — causing speculation about the status of their relationship and whether or not it had been a public relations stunt all along. Also at the premiere, a video was widely circulated in which it appears that Styles spat on Pine as he sat down in the theater — though these rumors were later dispelled. 

Aside from all of the drama, the movie itself was a bit of a letdown. The film’s trailers ended up spoiling many of the most thrilling scenes, and several themes were touched on once but never mentioned again. 

The movie follows Alice and Jack Chambers in their lives as part of The Victory Project, a company town in the middle of the desert. 

Their lives are ostensibly perfect. Jack has a cushy job with the rest of the town, though discretion around the company is key; all Jack can say is that he is a “technical engineer” working on “progressive materials.”

While the husbands are away, the wives cook, clean and take advantage of all the perks their cookie-cutter neighborhood has to offer. A trolley runs in between the town center and the houses, allowing the women to attend ballet classes and shop the mall with their friends and neighbors. A local pool offers a place to cool off and gossip on sunny days.

But when Alice starts to have hallucinations, she begins to wonder if something larger is at play. Questioning the motivations of the Victory Project, she begins to spiral into confusion and paranoia, not knowing what is going on or who she can trust.

Though the ending was not necessarily predictable, the general concept was not much of a shock. And while the film did not end on a cliffhanger per se, it did leave many questions unanswered. 

Although loose threads might bother some viewers, freshman government and politics major Madeline Meiner appreciated the ambiguity of the film.

“I feel like what really stood out in the movie was that it left you with so many questions at the end..It’s one of those movies where you keep thinking about it days after,” she said. “Maybe the ending could have wrapped up the movie better, but I feel like, looking back on it, the ending does what it’s supposed to by just making you think about it.”

Freshman public health major Adriana Koilpillai agreed that the movie hit on some important themes.

“My initial thoughts were [that] it had good powerful ideas about the patriarchy and how it affects both men and women,” she said.

What the movie lacked in its plot, students say it made up for in aesthetics. The vibrant colors, retro clothing and 1950’s-style setting were very pleasing to watch for the duration of the two-hour film. 

“I felt like the visuals that were in the movie were really good. They just set the scene so well,” said Meiner.

Not only was the set and costume design well done, but the actors did the best they could with the script they had. Pine gave a convincing performance as the cunning boss seemingly engaged in suspicious activity, while Pugh portrayed Alice — the housewife who’s starting to question her perfect, picturesque life. 

“I think all of the actors did a really good job,” Koilpillai said. “[Harry’s] not a very experienced actor, but he did a good job — a better job than people give him credit for. But Miss Flo obviously was so perfect and she captured all of the ranges of emotions that her character would have felt.”

I would give this movie a rating of 3.5/5. Its strongest suits were the actors and set design, which made it an interesting film to watch. While the plot line was not very original or well played out, it was still engaging enough to make the film a worthwhile watch. 

Featured photo: Harry Styles, right, and Florence Pugh, left, embrace one another on a promotional poster for “Don’t Worry Darling.” Photo by Kara Thompson.