Florence Pugh absent from the conference but saves ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ from critics

If we talk about ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ we have to talk about Britain’s Florence Pugh (Black Widow) and not necessarily because of her starring role or the sensual scenes that she is said to share so much with Harry Styles (Dunkirk). , but for the undeniable absence of her at the press conference of the film presented this Monday 5 September at the Venice Film Festival.

“Don’t Worry Darling” is the second feature film by actress Olivia Wilde, presented out of competition at the Venice Film Festival. But, if we talked about something, it is not the film itself, but the controversies that revolve around it, an alleged discrepancy between the director and the protagonists and the absence of Pugh at the conference.

turns out Florence was not at the press conference but everything seems to have an explanation; The actress was shooting the second part of ‘Dune’ (Denis Villeneuve) and according to film experts she is far above her co-stars, including Harry Styles himself, in a storyline in which both are the protagonists.

Early reviews of the film are starting to spread and suggest it’s not as good as many expected after the high expectations it had to meet. Some point out that this is a thriller at the height and with vague ideas, a flat plot that has sparked more interest in gossip, absences and controversy, than in itself.

In one of the criticisms already launched, Geoffrey Macnab elaborated it Harry Styles doesn’t have an ounce of charisma, adding that it may be a confusing, superficial and objective film, but not a disaster like some had imagined. And if there is anything to save, it is a point on which some critics agree.

Although it has been characterized, until now, as a boring film, critics agree the salvation of the film is certainly Florence Pugh, which is way above the level of the British singer, and even his co-stars. The bad review situation could certainly be the reason that leaves “Don’t Worry Darling” out of the Oscar nomination, as some had predicted.

What is it about Don’t worry, honey?

The one developed in the desert (Dune), is a film in which the central idea is that the wives of engineers cannot know or ask for anything, ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ explores the life of a group of women whose husbands work on sort of a secret project as they dedicate themselves to having perfect homes, preparing food and developing inbreeding relationships.

All in a 1950s community, recreated with great aesthetic precision and in which the director worked hard trying to emulate the architecture and iconography of the 1950s and 60s.

“Everything is a metaphor because the paradox of Victory (the name of the project and the city) is that everything looks wonderful, but in reality it is sinister,” said the director, who specified that both she and the screenwriter, Katie Silberman, they were very interested in “that nostalgia that is part of the American population and the concept of ‘making America great again'”.

A film about power and abuse of power in which Pugh plays Alice, a perfect housewife who lives only for her husband, Jack (Harry Styles), who works for Frank (Chirs Pine), the leader of a company that seems more a sect.

I think it was fun to play in that seemingly perfect world and play an imposter, “said a tense Styles, who repeated the word” fun “thirty times.

Olivia Wilde spoke about the control of women and her concern

The actor and singer and Olivia Wilde – who started a relationship during the filming of the film – they didn’t pose together for photographers and they sat at opposite ends of the press conference table, when it is customary for the protagonists to sit next to the director.

In between, Chris Pine, who talked about human beings’ struggle against chaos, which is something that is present in reality – “we all struggle to try to control what our chaotic environment is by nature – and in a film that looks like as a mix of “The Truman Show” and the “WandaVision” series.

Chaos is destructive and control is perfection. The film tries to suggest that if we try to control people it won’t work because it’s not human nature, ”explained Wilde, who considers the film timeless even though it’s set in the 1950s.

There hasn’t been a time in history when control over people hasn’t been a major issue, “added the director, who hopes” Don’t Worry Darling “will” provoke conversations. “

And there is an issue that particularly worries the director, the control of women, an issue she talked a lot about with the rest of the women who participated in the film, about her role in the patriarchal system.

“I didn’t want to simplify this feminist parable (…), I want to be provocative” but “without forgetting the side of the show” and send a message so that the spectators “feel inspired by this heroine who is Alice”. (With information from EFE).