Despite a culturally relevant and timely premise, there’s plenty to worry about with Olivia Wilde’s Darling, and that’s before we even get to the off/on set dramatics.
**Spoiler-free review**
There’s been more than a bit of hoopla about the Venice Film Festival, where Olivia Wilde and crew debuted the film while more and more details came out regarding the truth of actor Shia LeBeouf’s involvement, the potential drama between the entire cast, and Chris Pine’s meme status being solidified as he attempted to astral project himself anywhere but Italy.
This review won’t be about that.
I will mention it where it’s relevant (or maybe explore it further in a follow up article) but much of that situation doesn’t and shouldn’t impact my review
A Major First Act Blunder
Much of this film’s folly comes from how painfully slow the build up is to the major reveal. We spend a lot of time with characters saying a lot of meaningless dialogue with Pugh doing the heavy lifting (more on that in a second). When you go back to those early scenes and dialogue, you’ll realize what little impact they have on the later reveal to the point that so many of them could have been cut out. There’s a reason to establish this suburban life as idyllic and normal, so I don’t begrudge the movies its opportunities. But at some point you need to move forward with some hints through the dialogue that something is off, build the pay off for later, or make more concrete observations about the odd moments Pugh is experiencing (more on that later).
The film feels stuck in first gear for most the runtime and even as the intrigue should be mounting and the tension building more and more, the screenplay doesn’t realize how stuck it truly is.
Wasted Premise
The actual reveal, the whole reason that the Victory project exists as Frank (Chris Pine) created it is fascinating. This would be a fantastic science fiction movie as it touches on a number of cultural shifts happening on the definition of manliness, the disruption of “traditional” gender roles, and toxic masculinity that our current American communities are wrestling with and trying to process.
Unfortunately, by the time that reveal happens, the curtains are about to close and you haven’t had anytime to digest any of it. To be clear, these are great concepts for Wilde to go after and explore, but the reveal is so detached from any established characters that it’s hard to really care that anything happened to them. It goes back to that wasted first act; we really needed that time to establish the motivations more clearly for these characters so the reveals would make more sense, are more impactful, and serve to flesh out the central premise.
Painfully Thin Characters
Florence Pugh’s Alice is the primary worldview we encounter and explore the Victory project through…however most of this comes not from what Pugh says, but how she reacts to the situation around her. And given the weird things happening to her, some of those choices make sense, whether to have Pugh simply emote or keeping that information to herself out of fear that no one will understand. But this is where the script really does a disservice to Pugh, because as the incidents in the film get more and more bizarre, it becomes harder to believe some of the reactions she has or fails to act upon. Granted, the movie is being very upfront about the gaslighting of her situation, but having at least one friend to confide in about the situation would go a long way to fixing the way these moments land.
I would compare the differences between Pugh’s performance here to Elizabeth Moss in The Invisible Man. In the 2020 movie, when Moss’s character is being gaslight by the men around her, we as the audience may not understand completely how the villain is manipulating her or moving around the house, but we have enough concrete reactions and dialogue from Moss’ character that we’re content to follow along and key details are doled out at a great pace.
I honestly wonder, given the issues behind the scenes, if there may have been additional scenes for the first act that could be re-edited to make the entire film more cohesive and strengthen the latter half’s impact. But since most of this seems like a screenplay problem, the issues may be too baked in for an editor to fix.
A great example of this is a key scene between Alice and Frank at the dinner table, which is billed as a battle of the wills between the two characters. While it’s a great showcase of Pugh and Pine’s acting ability, it’s another moment where what they are saying simply doesn’t resonate because the screenplay hasn’t earned the scene.
Visually Solid
While the screenplay is lacking in its consistency, I don’t believe any one will walk away unimpressed by Wilde’s other directorial decisions for how Pugh works off of her co-stars or the visual choices by famed cinematographer Matthew Libatique. Libatique has worked extensively with Darren Aronofsky and his style really fits the world that Wilde was attempting to create. The style of Victory’s world, while pretty small, is impressive to look at – along with the numerous dream or lucid sequences that Alice experiences. While some of those moments are low with emotional tension, they are without doubt some of the best parts of this film’s aesthetic.
Final Thoughts
While this film brings a fresh issue to a tried and true sinister suburban world, it doesn’t really do anything new to justify its existence nor is it interested in tackling the issues of toxicity further than a surface level reading. It may be satisfactory for fans to chew on after that first viewing, but repeat watches will showcase just how little there is to ponder from the narrative despite Pugh and Pine doing their darnedest to keep the ship afloat.
Score: 5 out of 10