Don’t Worry Darling, a psychological thriller premiering at the 79th Venice International Film Festival, seems to be proceeding unabated despite the controversy that has followed the film. The next film’s antagonist, Frank (Chris Pine), the revered leader of the isolated and deceptively beautiful city of Victory, was the subject of a question-and-answer session between Wilde and Maggie Gyllenhaal for Interview Magazine. Wilde admitted that she modelled Frank after Jordan Peterson, a real-life celebrity held in high esteem by the incel subculture. A “pseudo-intellectual hero to the incel community,” as Wilde put it, is how the Canadian clinical psychologist and novelist was characterised by the author.
As Wilde elaborated, “[Incels are] fundamentally disenfranchised, largely white guys who feel they are entitled to sex from women,” a description that has been used to label the online subculture as a hate group by a number of civil rights advocacy organisations. And they think that society has cheated them out of something, that the concept of feminism is fighting against nature, and that we need to be placed back in our proper position. According to Wilde, the incel community is thriving because of people like Jordan Peterson “achieving success in a variety of ways. After that, she characterised him as “someone who gives their cause a veneer of respectability by virtue of his academic credentials, literary accomplishments, and business attire.
The story of Don’t Worry, Darling will revolve around the newlyweds Alice (Florence Pugh) and Jack Chambers (Harry Styles), who appear to be living the good life in the Victory project until Alice’s inquisitiveness reveals that they are, in fact, in the clutches of the city’s founder Frank, who is using them as pawns in achieving his sinister motives beneath the idyllic scenes of the island city. The international premiere of Don’t Worry, Darling will take place during this year’s Venice Film Festival, which kicked out on August 31 and will run until September 10. Then, on September 23rd, audiences in the United States may see the psychological thriller. Warner Bros. is in charge of the advertising, and they’ve already released a teaser and a motion poster, both of which have prominent sexual overtones, as Wilde has recommended.
Synopsis
“Alice (Pugh) and Jack (Styles) have it made in the experimental corporation town of Victory, which is home to the soldiers and their families who are involved in the highly classified Victory Project. Everything is wonderful since the firm takes care of all of the residents’ requirements. The only thing they want in exchange is that you support the Victory cause without a doubt. But as the veneer of their perfect existence begins to crumble and reveal glimpses of something worse behind it, Alice begins to wonder why they’re even still in Victory. How much does Alice stand to lose if she reveals the truth about what’s happening in paradise?”