Sometimes we are happy when a film is more complex. Alice, Darling is a complex film that is, perhaps, a little too complex.
Alice (American actor Anna Kendrick) is in love with Simon (English actor Charlie Carrick). She is a bit obsessed with making him happy. Her friend Tess (Kaniehtiio Horn) is turning 30. Tess and their friend Sophie (British actor Wunmi Mosaku) are going to a cottage in the woods to celebrate. Alice lies to Simon and tells him she is going on a business trip to Minneapolis.
Alice is not in the spirit of celebrating. She is pulling her hair out and not in a jovial mood. Eventually, we discover that Alice is in an abusive relationship with Simon.
Tess and Sophie feel like Alice is being a jerk to them. Once they realize what their friends is dealing with, they quickly change gears to help their friend.
Watch this film for Anna Kendrick, who is absolutely wonderful. This is a serious film about a huge societal problem in abusive relationships. This subject deserved a better film than we got.
Alice, Darling is a bit inconsistent. Director Mary Nighy, in her directorial debut, gives us a bunch of films. The pacing is so slow in the first third of the film, then turns upbeat once her friends know about the abusive relationship, and then crawls once Simon shows up at the cottage. This doesn't help the script from Canadian Alanna Francis. Francis wrote the script for the Canadian film The Rest of Us, a more consistent film.
Canadian film review: The Rest of Us
The lack of chemistry with the 3 female characters is a bit of a surprise. They come across as women who barely know each other. There are odd choices, such as Tess working on a jigsaw puzzle outdoors at night.
Alice tells her friends, "He wouldn't love me if he knew how bad I am," justifying her mistreatment. This film has such meaningful moments and needed more of them.
Tess and Sophie are more interesting characters than Alice. This is frustrating when Tess and Sophie mostly exist to serve Alice. Their characters needed to be more full fledged to make up the difference.
Alice, Darling is still worth a watch for the subject matter, though you could almost fast forward through the first 30 minutes of the film. Better editing and strong supporting characters would have made this film a much worthier watch.
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Though Alice, Darling is a Canadian film, there is little Canadian presence: cottage country in Ontario, Horn, who does her best in a limited role, and Francis. Alice, Darling had its world premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival.
Alice, Darling is available on Starz in the United States.
video credit: Lionsgate Movies
photo credit: Alice, Darling
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