Don't Worry Darling

~Rebel~ · 12-09-2022 5:38pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119594271#Comment_119594271

It was the other way around, they only met when they started working on the film. The relationship came after the casting.

In fairness to him, he's a decent actor.

jj880 · 12-09-2022 6:10pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119608802#Comment_119608802

Fair enough. Most reports say she picked him specifically for the role but that there was nothing going on before that.

As for his acting. Maybe I haven't seen enough of his roles. He was decent in Dunkirk but I think a leading role like this will be a better indicator. Early screenings have critics saying his accent is all over the place and his acting wooden. We shall see.

Spon Farmer · 14-09-2022 11:57pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119525690#Comment_119525690

Day-Lewis had someone break his nose so he would know what it was like so I don’t know if he is “normal” ;) but you are correct that they are professional and courteous to those around them. And you never hear of them causing drama or problems.

santana75 · 23-09-2022 9:43pm

Saw this earlier and I thought that it started really well but it just became boring and repetitive. Felt like it was 3 hours long but I was surprised to see its running time at just about 2hours.....not a good sign. Florence pugh is very good(as expected) Harry styles is grand, no problem with his acting, he does a good job. It's basically the stepford wives, only not nearly as good. The cinematography is excellent, this film looks amazing but when the cinematographer is the MVP it doesn't really say great things about the movie as a whole.

johnny_ultimate · 24-09-2022 12:58pm

You often see complaints online that even revealing a film has a twist is a spoiler. But Don't Worry Darling is so relentlessly and overtly building up towards its eventual reveal that it unbalances and upsets absolutely everything. From its opening scenes, this is nearly exclusively driven by the fact that 'this sinister world has a secret to be revealed!', which makes for a frustrating watch as the film slowly makes its way towards the inevitable. Making matters worse, the reveal itself is familiar and silly and (in execution) rather nonsensical, bringing to mind several other films and TV shows. Naming them does constitute a spoiler of sorts so...

like The Truman Show, The Matrix and Black Mirror's San Junipero with its 'character stuck inside a simulation' reveal. All of them are significantly better than this. As a matter of fact, the comparisons to The Truman Show (a film that crucially doesn't treat its premise like some big dramatic secret) are apt well before the twist is revealed... and it's not flattering to this film.

In the 90 minutes leading up to that, what you have instead is a fairly shapeless, repetitive beast that tries to capture the dark side of suburban conformity without having anywhere near the substance or stylistic chops of, say, Blue Velvet. There's not much in the way of flow, and even the nice production design flourishes don't really soar. I'd perhaps even go as far as saying this is a film that aesthetically works better in trailer form than a two-hour film.

The one saving grace, to the surprise of no-one, is Florence Pugh - an actress so naturally talented and ever-committed to the task at hand that she can make just about anything semi-tolerable, whether that's a mediocre MCU film or a mess like this. Harry Styles doesn't stand a chance in scenes with her. The film does briefly come to life during a dinner-table argument between Pugh and Pine's characters, but that's a short bit of relief in an otherwise thoroughly unremarkable film. I liked Booksmart a lot, so a shame this one doesn't work at all.

speedboatchase · 24-09-2022 8:54pm

I agree with Johnny above. No idea how to use spoiler tags here.

{spoiler}

At a certain point, you just say 'yeah, yeah, let's just get to the twist already'. And there is probably a clever way to illustrate the twist, but it is rushed and utterly lacking context. If we're led to believe that Harry Styles' character is a male feminist type who feels put upon by society and emasculated by being unemployed and his wife being the breadwinner, I could understand the idea of a patriarchal simulation appealing to him. But the idea that it would involve actual, living partners (e.g. Pugh) is a bridge too far. Technically, the simulation could potentially exist one day and be legal, so long as no one is coerced. So why would its - seemingly extremely well-funded organisation - risk the idea that participants might sometimes trick their partners into joining without their consent? Seemingly, Pugh's character is presumed dead or missing. Is no one investigating this? Where could he have initially hid her body? How does he feed her during the simulation? Why does a VR-style simulation require people to travel to physical locations to log out? Why is this likely heavily surveillance world not intervening when Pugh had mild attempts at suicide? Why would a woman be interested in Pine's character's worldview - would Bunny really want to be part of a world where she minds fake children 24/7? Why did Pine's wife - real or otherwise kill him? Why would getting stabbed in the world kill you in real life, but only if you're a man? Also... what was with the plane crash?

It seems extremely ill-thought-out and the ending hints at a Truman Show-style 'what next? ambiguity' doesn't work because we don't have enough context about the real world. They should have gone with a Gone Girl structure IMO, where they split the movie down the middle and halfway through show us Styles being radicalised online and taking the steps he did, then propel us to the third act.

{/spoiler}

That being said, Pugh is excellent as ever and Pine is extremely charismatic, as always.

jj880 · 26-09-2022 8:57am

...

cezanne · 28-09-2022 11:52am

Streamed it last night its a plagurism of several movies and basically a movement where beta males rise up again and make their clever wives submissive. Florence carries the movie all by herself and Olivia Wilde gives me the creeps, another poor Harry being abused by an American narc in real time. Run Harry run! I dont recommend this film, its a waste of time.

gmisk · 28-09-2022 12:03pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119608802#Comment_119608802

Is he? In what? He wasnt exactly brilliant in Dunkirk...

johnny_ultimate · 28-09-2022 1:37pm

Mod note: No piracy talk please. Thanks.

TheIrishGrover · 28-09-2022 5:14pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119538154#Comment_119538154

Well.... I SUPPOSE he's a bigger draw. He is the bigger star. Even if it is not related to movies. There should absolutely not be any pay disparity between genders but these are usually determined by how much an individual will bring viewers into the movie. I believe Terrence Howard was paid more money than Robert Downey Junior in Iron Man 1 as he was very high profile after "Hustle and Flow" and others.

However, insanely, Scarlett Johansson "only" got 400K for Iron Man 2. That is mental as she was one of the highest profile actors around (Male of Female) at the time and was heavily promoted. Of course many take a "lower" initial payout as they know they are potentially on to a long running cash cow and will only negotiate up.

While Florence Pugh is fantastic (She TOTALLY stole the Black Widow movie) she wouldn't be as huge a draw as Stiles. As an average punter in the street who she is and many will not know her (Crime) but EVERYONE knows Harry Stiles (Again, Crime)

As someone else said, the drama around it seems to be overshadowing the movie itself. Which, by accounts, it pretty "Meh"

cezanne · 29-09-2022 10:10pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119677090#Comment_119677090

Florence carried the whole film on her own everyone else was colourless.

Shelga · 30-09-2022 12:29am

Am I the only one who really enjoyed this?? I liked the story, didn’t predict the ending, thought Pugh was great, excellent production design, gorgeous costumes, even a car chase!

Ok, Harry Styles wasn’t amazing, and I didn’t buy the excuse for his British accent (which doesn’t even sound British anymore, he has that awful mid Atlantic twang), but he definitely wasn’t terrible and was there to magnify Pugh’s performance, which is what he did.

I really wasn’t thinking about all of the on-set drama while watching it, and I think it’s a shame that that has detracted from Wilde’s sophomore directorial effort.

Nigel Fairservice · 30-09-2022 5:42pm

I saw this last night. It was an OK watch but I wouldn't be rewatching it again anytime soon. It was an interesting concept but thought it left too many unanswered questions. The performances were good and carried the movie more so than the plot. Pugh and Pine were very good. Harry Styles was decent enough as well I thought. I found the scene where Olivia Wilde manhandled her husband out of the way pretty funny!

JP Liz V1 · 08-08-2023 12:31am

Gemma Chan's Shelley was the best most interesting character for me, it needed her more imho

Decuc500 · 08-08-2023 6:33pm

Thought this was awful. A very smug and self serious film. 'Indie' movie making by numbers. Not even Florence Pugh could save it.

Don't Worry Darling

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