Movie Review: ALICE, DARLING

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: January 20th, 2023 / 02:07 AM

ALICE DARLING movie poster | ©2023 Lionsgate

Rating: R
Stars: Anna Kendrick, Wunmi Mosaku, Kaniehtiio Horn, Charlie Carrick
Writer: Alanna Francis
Director: Mary Nighy
Distributor: Lionsgate
Release Date: January 20, 2023

Part of the suspense in ALICE, DARLING is not just what will happen, but how much will happen. There are a lot of weapons around, and a lot of potential for interpersonal violence, and even for self-harm. But writer Alanna Francis and director Mary Nighy provide enough nuance and ambiguity to prevent us from being able to predict how this will all end.

Alice (Anna Kendrick) is a thirtyish woman who lives with her successful artist boyfriend, Simon (Charlie Carrick). Alice’s best friends are Sophie (Wunmi Mosaku), who works for a nonprofit group, and not-so-successful artist Tess (Kaniehtiio Horn).

What at first seems like a loving relationship between Alice and Simon is quickly revealed to be full of micro-aggressions. Simon informs Alice that she doesn’t feel well after her night out, reverses his dictates on eating sugar, and opines that she can do better than the job that she has.

Alone in the bathroom, Alice repeatedly rehearses what she’s going to say to Simon, and reflexively pulls strands of hair out of her head. Sophie wants Alice to join her and Tess at Sophie’s parents’ cabin (the folks are out of town) to celebrate Tess’s thirtieth birthday. After going back and forth on the matter, Alice finally opts for the weekend with her friends, but lies and tells Simon it’s a work obligation.

With her own mass of insecurities and resentments, Tess has issues with Alice’s passive/aggressive demeanor. This leaves the well-grounded Sophie playing the adult peacemaker among the trio. (How Sophie got into this position is not addressed.)

Both Sophie and Tess suspect that Alice is being abused by Simon – if not physically, then certainly emotionally and psychologically.

At the same time, a young local woman in the area is missing. Alice joins in the search parties that set out each day to try to find her.

This actual mystery is more of a background detail than a focal point for ALICE, DARLING. The main tension here is the interaction between the three women, and what will happen between Alice and Simon.

The filmmakers and Kendrick give us a convincing portrait of Alice as someone who has largely lost her sense of self. The problem here is that, while we believe it, we are inclined to share Tess’s exasperation with Alice’s failure to stand up for herself.

We can tell that Simon is a bully, but we can’t tell how much Alice has changed to placate him. Because Sophie and Tess have known Alice for most of their lives, they can tell. Given Tess’s irritation with Alice’s lack of assertion, this appears to be something that predates the involvement with Simon.

ALICE, DARLING therefore poses the intriguing question of how much any person should be required to express themselves in order to function. We don’t get a definitive answer, although we see Tess and Sophie grappling with this, each coming up with her own response.

Mosaku is wonderfully dynamic, Horn is solid, and Carrick plays Simon so that we understand how he sees himself as reasonable.

ALICE, DARLING is appealingly unconventional in its handling of its themes. By the end, it’s unclear if the filmmakers have expressed all that they intend, but they create a lot of food for thought.

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