Don’t Worry Darling

Story

Jack (Harry Styles) and Alice (Florence Pugh) live a seemingly ideal life in an experimental model town called Victory. It’s a lifestyle modelled on 1950s America, where all the men go off to work each morning and their wives stay home and clean the house.

Alice spends her mornings cleaning, vacuuming, washing and so on, while listening to the encouraging words of Victory boss, Frank (Chris Pine), on the radio. The afternoons are spent with her neighbour and friend, Bunny (Olivia Wilde), along with the other wives, doing ballet, shopping, relaxing or drinking cocktails by the pool. By the time Jack returns home, dinner is prepared and Alice can’t wait to have sex with him.

No-one knows what secretive work their husbands do, and it’s seen as an offence to ask. But when Alice’s friend, Margaret (Kiki Layne), starts to question what’s going on, her life begins to unravel and she goes into a very dark place. At first, Alice tries to encourage Margaret, but Alice too starts to question her reality.

Alice finds herself increasingly suspicious of what’s happening around her. When she eventually confronts Frank, her world falls apart.

Themes

Control; virtual reality; suicide and self-harm

Violence

Don’t Worry Darling has some violence. For example:

Alice is trapped between a window and a wall, which appears to be crushing her.
Alice sees Margaret’s image in a mirror. Margaret appears to bang her head against the mirror. She eventually smashes the mirror, and her face is covered in blood.
Margaret stands on a roof, holding a knife to her throat. She slits her own throat and falls off the roof, dead.
Some men restrain Alice and drag her back into her house.
Alice wraps her head in plastic wrap until she finds it hard to breath. She struggles to tear the plastic off.
Men grab Alice again and drag her into a room. They strap her to a bed and give her electric shock treatment. She struggles against this.
A husband and wife argue intensely, screaming at each other. The wife eventually smashes a glass over the husband’s head and kills him.
During a car chase, a car hits some characters. Security characters drag other characters from their vehicles and take over the vehicles. Three cars crash violently and burst into flames.
A wife kills her husband with a kitchen knife.

Sexual references

Don’t Worry Darling has some sexual references. For example, at a party, a woman does a sort of striptease. She doesn’t take many clothes off, but all the men are whistling and catcalling. She ends up sitting in a giant martini glass.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

Don’t Worry Darling shows some use of substances. For example:

There is a lot of drinking throughout the movie, including at home, at parties, by the pool and so on.
Some people smoke cigarettes.

Nudity and sexual activity

Don’t Worry Darling has some nudity and sexual activity. For example:

Jack and Alice often kiss passionately.
Alice greets Jack at the door, and they immediately have oral sex on the dining room table.
Other couples kiss passionately.
Jack and Alice have sex at a party. Frank watches them.
A woman is shown topless but from behind, so nothing is visible.
Alice wears a see-through dress.

Product placement

There’s no product placement in Don’t Worry Darling.

Coarse language

Don’t Worry Darling has some coarse language.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Don’t Worry Darling is a psychological thriller with an interesting 21st-century plot twist. It’ll keep you on the edge of your seat.

The fact that Harry Styles stars will attract young teenage girls, but Don’t Worry Darling isn’t suitable for this age group. This is because one character ends their own life and another self-harms. It’s therefore not suitable for children under 14 years and not recommended for children under 15 years. We recommend parental guidance for 15-year-olds.

The main message from Don’t Worry Darling is to think about what a perfect life is worth and what you’d give up for it.

Values in Don’t Worry Darling that you could reinforce with your children include strong female characters who question their place in the world, courage to confront powerful men, and determination.

Don’t Worry Darling could also give you the chance to talk with your children about real-life issues like gender roles. For example, women’s roles have changed in Western society since the 1950s, but not everywhere in the world. Although women’s status has improved, have we achieved gender equality?