Let’s Talk About the Psychological Thriller Don’t Worry Darling

Image Courtesy: Tom + Lorenzo

Harry Styles’ new film Don’t Worry Darling brings you into a mysterious dystopian society based in the 50s that will leave you with genuine curiosity. The entire aesthetic of this society illustrates the 50s through what they wore, their societal norms, and how they spent their day-to-day lives. Right off the bat, the film takes you into an abnormal society where men are in charge and women repeat the same day by cooking and cleaning. One thing to note is that although all these couples seem as happy as ever, the women are brainwashed and have no idea what work their husbands do when they leave the house. 

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The structure of this male-dominated society perfectly embodies the gender roles of the 50s, when men were the breadwinners and women were only good for tidying the house and looking pretty. This “Victory” project was found to just be a simulation in the real world that the men knew about all along, but the women had no idea that this was not real life. The mystery of what was really going on was obvious from the start because the entire project of the Victory plan was described as top-secret information to all the women in the society. Nobody seemed curious about what they were doing and why they were living under a man’s set of rules until the protagonist Alice, played by Florence Pugh, ran into forbidden territory when she thought she saw a plane crash. From this point on, the truth behind this patriarchal depiction of modern society began to unfold.

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Harry Styles’ character Jack seems to be the perfect husband in the simulation who works hard and loves his wife. Little did we know that this was just our perception of him within the simulation, and he was completely different in the real world. As the movie progresses, we come to see glimpses of the real world where Jack was a loser in a struggling relationship with his girlfriend. Jack was clearly insecure in his relationship and felt that the only solution was to drug his girlfriend, transfer her to this simulation, and make it seem like they lived a perfect life.

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Alice was a full-time nurse in real life before jack stripped her of this and brought her to the isolated dystopian community, where he changed their identities to serve the intel agenda. Each glimpse into the real world juxtaposes its modernity to the repressive false reality of the 50s. The twisted plot of this film helps us depict the change our society has experienced from the 50s to now emphasizing that women can have careers and make lives of their own. 

Image Courtesy: IMDb

Through the mystery of the depiction of a perfect society, we are still able to find clues to the modern world, where we quickly realize that this way of life is outdated and far from perfect. This film had me on the edge of my seat the entire time and I would recommend it to anyone to see how they interpret the film in terms of societal norms throughout time.

Strike Out,

Writer: Bella Ferretti

Editor: Noelle Knowlton

Graphic Designer: Alli Pryor

Tallahassee