What Don't Worry Darling's ending really means, and where it all went critically wrong.

Listen to this story being read by Laura Brodnik, here. 

This story contains spoilers for Don't Worry Darling.

Against my will, Don't Worry Darling has been haunting my waking hours for well over a year.

Firstly, there was the welcome news that after directing the critically acclaimed but underperforming Booksmart, actress-turned-filmmaker Olivia Wilde was helming a new psychological thriller starring Oscar nominee and new It Girl Florence Pugh.

Then followed the interesting news that Shia LaBeouf had exited the movie under mysterious circumstances, only to be replaced by Harry Styles who was papped holding hands with a newly single Olivia not long after. 

Then came the anonymous reports about tensions on the set. Florence's telling Instagram silence as the film's trailers rolled out. Suspicious magazine cover stories that made it clear a line had been drawn between Olivia and Florence. Shia's leaked videos and text messages. Florence skipping the Venice Film Festival press event. Spitgate.

You don't need me to recap the whole sordid ordeal, we all lived it.

Honestly, during this past year, I've thought more about the people involved in this movie than I have about my own family members.

So when I actually sat down in the cinema to watch Don't Worry Darling, I remembered there was an actual movie here to digest, and I think it's safe to say the plot of this film deserves the same amount of critique as Harry Styles potentially hurling spit at an unsuspecting Chris Pine.

In particular, the film's inevitable plot twist and final scenes.

Listen to The Spill hosts have an emergency debrief about Don't Worry Darling after watching the movie. Story continues below. 

So if you're one of those 'to hell with it' types who are reading this without seeing the actual movie, or maybe you were just distracted by Harry Styles' face and missed the whole damn twist, allow me to explain what happened in those final scenes where a murdery Florence Pugh was running through the desert with perfect hair.

In a revelation that surprised precisely no one, Alice (Florence Pugh) and Jack (Harry Styles) were not in fact a sexily progressive couple living an idyllic life in the 1950s amongst a Stepford wives group of neighbours, who all eerily had the same meet-cute story.

Instead, we discover the town of Victory is actually a simulated world created by the psychotic but suave Frank (the spat upon Chris Pine) and Alice is not actually a housewife with a sassy attitude and a killer (literally) wardrobe.

In the real world, she's a doctor working long hours in a hospital while her unemployed husband Jack sits locked away in their messy home absorbing videos made by Frank, and then effectively abducts Alice and has her tied to a bed where she is forced to assume a new identity in Victory.

Harry Styles' Jack is made to look just wholly unattractive (something audiences seem more concerned about than the fact that he, who know, is essentially holding his barely alive wife's body captive) and we discover that he has selected a new identity for himself. 

A handsome, successful British man whose wife is head over heels for him.

When Alice realises what is happening, she confronts Jack and their heated interaction turns violent, which results in Jack's death. Both in the simulation and in the real world.

Now, here's where things get interesting.

Florence Pugh as Alice in Don't Worry Darling. Image: Warner Bros 

Bunny (Olivia Wilde) Alice's close friend, and next-door neighbour, who refused to believe Alice's fears that something wasn't right in Victory, appears. She then proceeds to inform Alice that she's always known Victory was a simulation and still chose to live there after losing her children in the real world.

She urges Alice to run before Frank realises what has happened and has her real body killed. 

What follows is a tense car chase through the desert until Alice reaches Victory's headquarters and pushes her hands against the glass, pulling her out of the simulation and all we are left with is a gasp to assure us she's woken up in the real world.

Great, very cinematic, nice to know she made it back to a world without perfect hair.

But also, a few things...

The twist in Don't Worry Darling is not as bad as some people have made it out to be. It's expected and not wholly original, but in storytelling, this is not the foundation on which a successful twist is built.

A perfectly executed twist is quietly woven throughout the story in a way that, when the twist is finally revealed you're both shocked by the outcome and indignant you didn't spot it in the first place (see The Sixth Sense).

Not left feeling like it was something tacked onto the end for a hit of shock value and never properly alluded to or set up in the story's origins (see Gossip Girl).

Don't Worry Darling's critical error is not the twist itself, but rather the way it is executed.

Firstly, it leaves the viewer more confused than Harry Styles (presumably) when they explained they were going to make him look unattractive. 

There are too many questions left unanswered, and not in a fun 'chose your own adventure' way. But rather, in an 'I think key moments from this script were accidentally left on the cutting room floor' way.

As an example, when Gemma Chan's character Shelley stabs Fran and says "it's my turn now", is that because she's just realised she's being held against her will in the simulation? 

OR, like Bunny, has she known the truth the whole time and this means she is taking over control of the project from Frank, so his death will absolve her of any real-life consequences. This moment would have hit harder with a more definitive answer.

The film is also packed with scenes depicting earthquake-like tremors where Jack and Alice automatically grab the breakable things on their kitchen shelves until they subside. This happens in different points around town throughout the movie, but just like the plane featured in the film and the movie posters, never really ties into the ending with any type of satisfaction.

I'm sure these thoughts are making it sound like I didn't enjoy Don't Worry Darling, but that's not true. 

It's an interesting movie with a great cast and everything from the costumes, to the sets, the musical and the way it was shot really brings you into a fully realised world.

It also feels like the twist should have been more integrated into the film on a larger scale, rather than a light cliffhanger just clipped onto the end.

Olivia Wilde and Florence Pugh in Don't Worry Darling. Image: Warner Bros 

If there was a re-cut of Don't Worry Darling, I've love to see the plot reveal moved in the center of the film, so we could spend more time with Alice as she unravels what's really going on in Victory.

Imagine a scene where Alice learns the truth and after she kills Jack, then runs into the street to be confronted by her neighbours. 

Except this time, instead of driving away, the camera pans across all their faces and we get a glimpse of who they all are in the real world and how they got here. 

We see what Frank really looks like and how he runs Victory behind the scenes, we get the answer to whether or not Shelley is a criminal mastermind or another victim. We discover the chilling reality of what really happened to Margaret (KiKi Layne) in the real world after she discovered the truth and tried to take her own life in the simulation.

A quick jump cut to Violet (Sydney Chandler) and Peg (Kate Berlant) in the real world would also see the twist more fully realised on screen. Did they already know the men who brought them to Victory, or are their loved ones grappling with their mysterious disappearances in the real world? Now there's a way to add an extra chilling detail to the ending of the film, before we see Alice made a run for it.

And Bunny? Olivia Wilde's character is one of the most captivating of the film, and it would add so much more to her own big reveal if a quick flashback informed the audience that she was keeping her husband trapped in Victory after the death of their children. Paying her way by keeping the other wives distracted and off the scent of what Frank was really up to.

I'll stop now, before this veers anymore into fan fiction territory, but the truth is Don't Worry Darling is a solid film that maybe could have used another scripting session before the cameras started rolling. To really make sure the plot twist felt really well thought out and earned. 

All the pieces were there, they just didn't quite come together. 

Laura Brodnik is Mamamia's Head of Entertainment and host of The Spill podcast. You can follow her on Instagram here.

Don't Worry Darling is in cinemas now.

Feature image: Warner Bros.

Love watching TV and movies? Take our survey now to go in the running to win a $100 gift voucher.