‘Don’t Worry Darling’ — Every Single Gaping Plot Hole

The Big Picture

• The film
  Don’t Worry Darling
  received mixed reviews and has several plot holes that make it difficult to follow and appreciate.
• The hallucinations in the film lack clear significance to the simulation storyline and are mostly for shock value.
• Don’t Worry Darling
  fails to answer important questions about how eating, pregnancy, and living arrangements work within the simulation.

Don’t Worry Darling was released in 2022 to mixed reviews, earning only 38% on Rotten Tomatoes, which perhaps can be attributed to the several plot holes that exist in the story, making it difficult to follow and appreciate as an audience member. While a certain level of suspension of disbelief is necessary when entering such a dystopian, psychological thriller as Don’t Worry Darling, there is a level of accountability that filmmakers must be held to when ensuring that a story actually makes sense.

Whether you caught Olivia Wilde‘s controversial flick in theaters or are only just experiencing it now that it is on Hulu (it’s also available to stream on Max), here’s a quick plot synopsis: Alice Chambers, played by Florence Pugh, is living a seemingly perfect life in a 1950s-era town called Victory, with her dreamy husband Jack (Harry Styles), who works a mysterious job. One day, Alice begins to realize that not everything is as it seems in this utopia, and, long story short, she comes to learn that Victory is in fact a simulation that Jack forcibly entered her into when their relationship began to go south in the real, 21st-century world. When Alice realizes this and Jack once again attempts to force her to stay, Alice kills him and runs from the enforcers of Victory back to her real life, escaping the simulation and re-entering the world as a widow of her own making. As much as Don’t Worry Darling tries to offer a satisfactory end, there are way too many plot holes and untied loose ends that prevent the film from feeling complete.

What’s Going on With the Hallucinations and Empty Eggs?

First, we must discuss what takes up the majority of the film: Alice’s hallucinations. What’s really going on there? Many of her hallucinations border on lethal and suicidal behaviors and situations, but why? Sure, the hallucinations inform her that something is off, but none of these dark visions particularly lend themselves to specific intel that Victory itself is illegitimate. For example, let’s take the scene where Alice is crushed between the window and the wall or the scene where Alice nearly suffocates herself with Saran wrap — what within these scenes suggests, “Alice, you are in a simulation”? It more so feels that these scenes were put in for the sole purpose of shock value to use in the trailers.

There is, of course, the infamous empty egg scene, where Alice cracks open egg after egg, revealing that there is nothing actually inside any of them. This does suggest that her reality is skewed, but it proposes another plot hole: how does eating and drinking work while in the Victory Project? Are people’s bodies being nourished in the real world or do they actually eat in Victory? The empty egg scene aside, more often than not, the audience sees real food being prepared and eaten in Victory, like the ritualistic shots of coffee and buttered toast that are returned to time and again as Alice and Jack start their days in Victory. If people eat in the simulation that is the Victory Project, do they receive that nourishment in real life? Or is it another job of the men as they leave the simulation each day to feed the bodies of their wives who are still mentally consumed within the simulation? On that note, how does going to the bathroom work? There is certainly no need to go to the bathroom in the simulated world of Victory, but for their bodies in real life, what’s the deal there? Is there a catheter situation or something of the like?

How Can Women Get Pregnant in the Victory Project?

Another similar question: how does pregnancy work within the Victory Project? Jack says that the kids aren’t real, but Peg (Kate Berlant) is pregnant throughout the film and Bunny (Olivia Wilde) has two children — something doesn’t add up. It is important to remember that everything in the simulation is of design and has been meticulously crafted to be as realistic as possible, so do the kids just materialize within the simulation? Let’s not forget that the plot of the film is set in motion after the disappearance of Margaret’s (KiKi Layne) son. Was her son murdered or just taken out of the simulation? That poses another question: who is looking after him in the real world if he wasn’t killed? All that being said, the concept of pregnancy while in the simulation still does not make sense. Are there explanations for these questions, or more likely, were these just contingencies that were overlooked?

‘Don’t Worry Darling’s Ending Raises Some Valid Questions

Other major plot holes to discuss particularly revolve around the twist ending of the film. In the ending flashbacks of Don’t Worry Darling, Jack is revealed to have forced Alice into the Victory Project, but how? It can be assumed that he physically took advantage of her, potentially in her sleep, forcing her into the extensive equipment pictured in the film. This doesn’t take into account, though, the life that Alice would be leaving behind as a busy surgeon, with many roots and colleagues who know her and would notice that she had up and disappeared one day. Perhaps Jack covered those bases by reaching out to her work on her behalf, saying that they were moving, or Alice was simply quitting, but it seems unrealistic that no one from Alice’s life would search for her. The film doesn’t even mention Alice’s family, who would presumably not stop until they know where Alice is and whether she is safe. Is Alice a missing person in real life? The film does not bother to answer any of these questions.

Also, if Jack was unemployed prior to him and Alice joining the Victory Project, then what is the job that he leaves the simulation every day to go and do to supposedly pay for the costs of being a part of the Victory Project? A potential answer is that Frank, portrayed by Chris Pine, employed him to help facilitate the Victory Project, so he may be working for the actual Project itself, which might explain the strange job promotion turned forced dance scene in the middle of the film. Regardless, these are points that are not addressed in the film that may leave audience members scratching their heads.

How Does the Simulation Work in ‘Don’t Worry Darling’?

Lastly, the entire premise of the film itself must be called into question. How do people’s experiences within the simulation that is the Victory Project coexist within the same reality? How do Alice and Jack both gain consciousness of real life and share a coherent conversation in the simulation? Unlike virtual reality or VR, which would be today’s closest equivalent to such a simulation, the Victory Project seems almost closer related to a sort of hypnosis, where Victory exists in people’s imaginations as opposed to projected reality. When Alice walks in Victory, she is actually lying in bed, when Alice talks in Victory, she doesn’t actually make a sound, and even when Alice blinks in Victory, her eyes are pried open in some contraption necessary for the simulation to work.

How is the reality of the simulation shared among the people taking part? For instance, what are the random earthquakes that happen throughout the film? This is never really addressed and again calls into question how people are able to share such experiences within their different simulated realities. This was a major oversight in the film, which just about deteriorates any legitimacy of the concept. Needless to say, Don’t Worry Darling has a few rough patches. The film contains interesting concepts that if executed differently, could have been extremely effective. With that said, the film should be commended for its attempt, and if anything else, should be praised for its beautiful cinematography, as well as its powerhouse of a lead actress, Florence Pugh, both of which make the film entirely worth watching.

Don’t Worry Darling is available to stream on Hulu and Max in the U.S.

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