Perhaps the best news for Olivia Wilde—perhaps the only good news—is that her movie
Don't Worry Darling
has finally been released.
Perhaps this is the end of the series of catastrophic misfortunes that has surrounded the film since its shooting until Monday, the day of its world debut, out of competition, at the Venice Film Festival.
A leading actress who avoids talking about the feature film;
a performer who was replaced by a pop star (Harry Styles) who is now the filmmaker's new partner;
suspicions of inappropriate behavior on set, aired private videos and more personal and creative blows of effect... so much so that the story surrounding the film could very well be a
thriller.
Even a better one than
Don't Worry Darling
.
Because the screening at the Mostra didn't give Wilde too much joy either.
She received lukewarm applause.
And a little more.
A shocking contrast with the noise that the work had been generating.
His story adds so many chapters that it is convenient to go in order.
Starting at the end.
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"You and I know the reasons for my departure": the scandals of 'Don't worry darling', the controversial film by Olivia Wilde
Because even at its press conference in Venice today the film suffered another shock.
The day before it was known that its main interpreter, Florence Pugh, would not appear before the microphones.
The official reason alludes to the agenda, to the collision with the filming of the second part of
Dune.
And it is true that the actress did walk the red carpet before the gala pass, at night.
But her decision prolongs her silence about the film.
Meanwhile, in the absence of her version, all the others speak.
“Florence is a force.
We are grateful that she gets to be here tonight and that we can celebrate together.
It has been an honor to have her as the lead.
As for all the gossip, the internet feeds on that, it's well enough fed and I'm not going to contribute”, Wilde cut off the inevitable question about the elephant in the room in the morning.
Or, rather, absent in it.
The question mark mentioned fights with Pugh.
But that part was ignored.
And worse luck suffered the following question, about the film's original male lead, Shia LaBeouf: "she has already been answered with the reference to the internet."
It is true that the network is full of material to investigate the issue.
On August 24, Wilde hinted to
Variety
that he eliminated the actor due to his behavior: “Your process of him did not align with the
ethos
that I demand.
[…] Creating a safe environment is the best way to get people to do a good job.
And my ultimate responsibility is towards the production and the cast, to protect them.”
But the interpreter contacted the same magazine.
And he bounced several emails exchanged with the director to offer another truth.
“You and I know the reasons for my departure.
I left your movie because your actors and I can't find time to rehearse," LaBeouf wrote in one.
In addition, he shared a video allegedly sent to him by Wilde that later ended up
online.
On the recording, the filmmaker said she was confident LaBeouf and Pugh could "make it up" and that she wasn't "ready to give up" on the issue just yet.
The nickname "Miss Flo" and the ironic tone with which the director referred to the actress, however, will not have contributed to loosen the climate.
Once LaBeouf disappeared —who, to enjoy the gossip, goes to the festival, to present
Padre Pio
, by Abel Ferrara—, the role fell to Styles.
Weeks later, Wilde announced another key decision: the end of her nine-year relationship with actor Jason Sudeikis.
A few months passed and the former One Direction divo, today a soloist just as adored by the public, began to be photographed hand in hand with the director.
The couple's appearances have continued to the point of assuming their official status.
And an army of young people stood on the red carpet of the contest from the first hour, willing to wait hours just to see the singer for a moment and envy the director.
“Musician and actor are opposite professions in many points of view.
But in neither of the two you never know where you're going, "said Styles.
Harry Styles and Florence Pugh, in a scene from 'Don't Worry Darling'.AP
Last April, the film also veered towards another unexpected destination.
And he crossed paths with real life again: while Wilde was presenting
Don't Worry Darling
from a stage, someone came up to hand him an envelope.
The director opened it and found the custody papers for her two children with Sudeikis.
The actor has denied knowing the peculiar plan of his lawyers, but the filmmaker has made it clear that she does not believe him.
Nothing as confrontational could have happened in
Don't Worry Darling
.
Or, at least, in its beginning.
Because the film tells the wonderful life of Alice and Jack.
And from the inhabitants of the idyllic community of Victory.
They work.
They take care of the home and prepare dinner that their husbands will enjoy.
And all together they feed the utopia led by the charismatic guru Frank.
Until Alice begins to ask herself the occasional question.
And, little by little, she brings to the urbanization the only thing that is banned: dissent.
And, finally, chaos.
“We like movies that are Trojan horses, that entertain, but generate a debate, a provocation.
Breakups are fundamental to our society," Wilde said.
Although his work only partially meets the objective.
With echoes of
The Truman Show
and the recent series
Separation
,
Don't Worry Darling
can be seen as a metaphor for the oppression of the patriarchy and the capitalist system.
It also offers a parable about the feminist awakening and its revolutionary power.
And an answer, in case it were needed, to who wonders why it is necessary for half of the world that cinema has always silenced to be able to film their stories.
The problem is that the feature insists so much, and for so long, on building its climax, that the attention of many will give up before.
The final goal is intuited, hence the important thing would be how to get there: however, there are hardly a couple of detours out of the schemes.
At least, yes, the end manages to dye female empowerment epic.
"I want women to feel that her voice is heard, that they feel inspired by the protagonist," said the filmmaker.
And these days she wryly stressed that no man experiences an orgasm in her film.
However, she had to cut an oral sex sequence for the protagonist from the trailer to prevent access to the film from ending up being restricted in the US for certain audiences.
The umpteenth blow to the movie.
Wonder if it's the last.
Colin Farrell, before the gala screening of 'The Banshees of Inishering'.
YARA NARDI (REUTERS)
In the other film of the day, there is barely a female voice.
She though she is the only lucid one.
Because none of the men in
The Banshees of Inisherin,
by Martin McDonagh —who already triumphed in Venice with
Three Billboards in the Outskirts—
seem capable of dealing with the conflict that arises at the start.
On the other hand, a whole lesson in cinema and synthesis: Pádraic approaches the window of a house.
“Colm, are we going to the pub?” he infers.
But the other, inside, doesn't even flinch.
"It's two o'clock," insists the first.
No response.
The viewer, on the other hand, has already understood everything: a lifelong friendship has just been broken.
The work catches, envelops, despite the fact that at times the script seems more interested in being brilliant than exciting.
In the spectacular and remote landscapes of an Irish island, the characters of Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson speak of toxic masculinity, of those who do not know how to express themselves and those who do accept being emotional;
but also of the civil war, of intellectual arrogance and of searching for meaning in life.
Big, transcendent, like music.
Or much simpler: just be kind.
