Don’t Worry Darling is visually stunning but once the plot twist is revealed, there’s little substance to the script.

Don’t Worry Darling is about Alice Chambers (Florence Pugh) and Jack Chambers (Harry Styles) living the 1950s utopian dream of a young married couple, in a beautiful house, with neighbours and drinks party every week. However, looks are very deceiving, and happiness is only an illusion.

It’s difficult to discuss Don’t Worry Darling without giving away the plot twist. I will say that it leans very heavily on Pleasantville. You’ll guess it from about 15 minutes into the film, but the why isn’t fully explained. That’s the main issue, the script needed more work, especially once the twist is revealed. We needed more context. It’s all very well to show the patriarchy for what they are, fearful of female power, but we needed more showing and telling why some men are evil.

Florence Pugh and Chris Pine are both sensational and Florence especially gives this film its emotional depth.

Olivia Wilde’s direction is assured once the film gets going. At the start, there were scenes where I was left dizzy as the camera went round in circles. A female director taking on sci fi should be applauded but she needed a better script. I also wonder about the wisdom of casting herself as one of the main characters in the film. Her character, Bunny, gets one of the pivotal moments of the entire film. Either she’s a director or an actor but if she wants to be both, then she needs to be a minor character in her own film. The cinematography and set design are outstanding.

Harry Styles is fine but cannot match Florence Pugh’s emotional range on screen and this leaves the movie unbalanced. He clearly can’t do an American accent, so they let him keep his native Northern English accent!

Don’t Worry Darling will be released in UK cinemas on Friday 23 September.

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