Alice (Florence Pugh) and Jack (Harry Styles) live an idyllic life in a desert town named Victory. The town is founded and built around a secretive business run by Frank (Chris Pine) and the only rules are that none of the women go near the office and none of the men talk about their work. 

Alice’s life consists of routine. Send her husband off to work after making his breakfast and packed lunch. Clean the home, shop and make sure she is ready to welcome him home with a drink and a hearty meal. Whilst the evenings and weekends consist of dinner parties and gatherings. All of her friends are fellow wives with the same routine. The glamorous Bunny (Olivia Wilde) who always has a cocktail in her hand and the perpetually pregnant Peg (Kate Berlant) are as equally there to serve their husbands as Alice. 

Frank is a cross between a cult leader and a Bond villain. Everyone reveres him for creating this perfect society where the workers live in a perfect constructed suburbia on the edge of a desert and a secretive headquarters. Anyone who has seen the Simpsons episode “You Only Move Twice” which has a Bond villain parody named Hank Scorpio will definitely see some parallels in both the small town and its leader. 

Of course Alice begins to notice cracks in the perfection and the question is whether she is losing her mind or there is a larger conspiracy afoot. 

Don’t Worry Darling is an effective thriller with slight tinges of horror and when its mysteries are revealed it is wholly satisfying. 

It is visually stunning in many ways. The suburb in the desert is reminiscent of the pastel town in Edward Scissorhands. Whilst the costumes are to die for and the height of 1950’s fashion. The aerial shots of the town in the desert are also fantastic.

Acting honours could easily be on the cards for Florence Pugh whose Alice is holding onto the cracks of her sanity whilst trying to discover the dark underbelly of Victory. Her towering performance does put Harry Styles turn into sharp relief though and he struggles to make an impact. Where as Chris Pine does a lot with his slightly sinister and mysterious Frank. Gemma Chan and Olivia Wilde are also good as other wives in the conclave. 

Wilde’s directorial debut Booksmart was an exceptional comedy and this sophomore effort is an effective thriller. It will be exciting to see what genre she tackles next.