Mark Reviews Movies: ALICE, DARLING

Alice, Darling, Lionsgate

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Review by Mark Dujsik | December 29, 2022

Something is wrong with Alice (Anna Kendrick), and it doesn't take too long to figure out that the problem isn't technically with her. Once the actual issue becomes clear in Alice, Darling, Alanna Francis' screenplay struggles to find a story to attach to the character's own struggles.

The frustrating thing about the movie, though, is that this material doesn't necessarily need a clear-cut, straightforward story to make its points and examine the dilemma of the protagonist. It's at its most effective when Alice begins to realize that something is wrong in her life, only for that revelation to open the floodgates of even more realizations. Such a character-focused tale doesn't need a plot or a gimmick, but Francis and director Mary Nighy make certain we get them, especially in the underwhelming, predictable, and oddly anticlimactic third act.

At the start, Alice seems to have it all: a comfortable life in the city, a job that pays for such a lifestyle, and a boyfriend she loves. The guy is named Simon (Charlie Carrick), an artist with some level of success but with a lot of apparent insecurity about his career. He seems insecure about a lot of things, in fact, and during a night out at a bar with her best friends Tess (Kaniehtiio Horn) and Sophie (Wunmi Mosaku), Alice's phone frequently buzzes with some message from Simon. Alice is distracted by it, worried about him, fearful of something, or all of the above. She sneaks away to the restroom at one point, just to send him a photo of her cleavage with an assuring message.

When he's present and even when he's not, Simon does seem to occupy much of Alice's thinking, as her dialogue with those friends and some flashes of memories make clear early on and later in this story. At the start, it makes sense. The foundation of Alice's troubles, after all, has to do with Simon. She's worried about him. Simon has a gallery opening soon, and he wants to make sure it goes perfectly. Alice tries to keep up his spirts and invites her friends to come, too, but when he thinks it's a failure, Simon latches on to his girlfriend for more than support.

It doesn't take long to figure out what the filmmakers are keeping from us about the natures of this man and this relationship. The way Nighy gradually shows us tiny moments or single lines during those bursts of memory, though, gets at how persistent the resulting feelings are and how insidious the guy's behavior is in Alice's life.

To put it bluntly, Simon is abusive, although his abuse doesn't leave physical scars or bruises. We hear him throw out a vulgar insult in one flashback. We watch as Alice's mood drops when Simon texts her, because she has lied about going on a business trip when she's actually spending a week with Tess and Sophie at a cabin in the woods for the former's birthday. That she has to lie to Simon shows how controlling he is. That she still fears being found out shows how much control he has over her.

For a bit, the movie succeeds as a study of the lingering and constant effects of such psychological abuse, in part because the screenplay does focus on them without any other concern. Kendrick's performance is another major reason for that early success. She plays Alice with considered shifts in mood and a sense of performing as if everything is fine, even as the character falls into fear, guilt, and self-hatred because of Simon's hold on her mind.

As the two friends begin to realize that Alice's own attitude and behaviors have to do with her relationship to such a guy, they try to help her come to her own realizations (Tess is a bit harsher than Sophie, but they both mean well). Because the story takes place over only a few days and much of it is in the character acknowledging how toxic this guy and relationship are, the movie never escapes Simon, unfortunately. So much of what these characters say, do, and discuss are reactions to this man's existence and behavior, and through it all, Alice is defined by that connection and the kind of psychological pain he has inflicted on her. There's never any sense of Alice beyond that, apart from a scene or two of the three women singing together or going out for drinks—which certainly only offer generic moments of respite and fun for the character.

The third act, though, takes that inability to escape Simon even further and more literally, and it feels disingenuous and counterproductive, considering that the lengthy, uncomfortable episode brings the story and the main character right back to a place they already had reached. Alice, Darling is ultimately the tale of a psychological and emotional breakthrough, but because the filmmakers don't seem to want go beyond that notion, the whole thing becomes a circular, limited exercise in storytelling and character development.

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