Friday, March 29

Harry Styles and the controversy cloud ‘Don’t worry, dear’, a fun feminist ‘Matrix’

In any festival worth its salt there has to be a good controversy. A film that ends up buried by the extracinematographic. Last year there was more talk about the arrival of Ben Affleck with Jennifer Lopez in Venice than about the great the last duel; and this year it was clear that the same thing was going to happen when Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde, actor and director of Do not worry dearthe film in which they began their romantic relationship.

Since the news was known in the world of gossip, only that has been talked about. The film has been forgotten under the shadow of rumors and controversies. The first, when Olivia Wilde received custody papers for her children in the middle of filing Do not worry dear at San Diego ComicCon, which she has considered a macabre strategy of her ex-partner, the comedian and star of ted lassoJason Sudeikis. As if that were not enough, in the weeks leading up to the premiere, Wilde gave an interview saying that he replaced the initially planned Shia LaBeouf with Harry Styles to create a protective environment for his cast, since LaBeouf had been accused of sexual assault.

LaBeouf responded by denying it and posting a video sent to him by Wilde herself saying to please reconsider not being in the film and referring to the film’s star, Florence Pugh, as ‘Miss Flo’, with a tint that didn’t escape anyone. . This fed another of the conspiracy theories around the film, which Pugh and Wilde ended up like the rosary of the dawn. Do you think that is enough controversy? Well, wait, there were still two episodes left in the last few hours. One day before the presentation of the film, Florence Pugh canceled her presence at the press conference and in the interviews and announced that she would be alone on the red carpet. The excuse, or argument, was that she had come straight from the shooting of Dune 2. Hours after the red carpet, a video went viral in which many believe they see Harry Styles spitting next to the foot of the other actor, Chris Pine, while receiving a standing ovation from the public in the Great Room.


The result is that nobody talks about the film. The show has seemed more like a reality show that a cinematographic event and the networks are delighted. Maybe the Mostra too. It has been, by far, the most talked about movie on the internet and fans of Harry Styles have made fools of those of Chálamet, lining up for hours to see him on the red carpet. It’s a shame, because in the end few are talking about a great Matrix feminist who is a block buster fun and effective.

Do not worry dear shows a society that looks like something out of a Doris Day movie. Perfect housewives, husbands in suits who go to work in big cars, chalets with a barbecue, ideal suits and lots of pastel colours. The perfect life… for them. For the chauvinists, for the incel, for false allies, for those who want them quiet and at home. Until the heroine begins to see that something strange is happening. It is convenient to reveal little of the plot, but Wilde herself gave clues saying that her film has a lot to do with the truman show and with Matrix.

It is a dystopia against patriarchy, with a Florence Pugh who is pure claw, a Styles who debuts a little lost and a staging that is sometimes repetitive, but that plays with a great soundtrack and a delicious production design that mimics 1960s houses to create a thriller conspiranoid, paranoid and that contains a very powerful message. It is a film against the control of female bodies and it comes at a perfect time, with the extreme right questioning rights that seemed untouchable months ago. A blockbuster who sometimes thinks he’s smarter than he is, but looks good. A pastiche of many references that works more than correctly.

I do not know of a time when it is not relevant to fight against the control of bodies. I hope that the film provokes a debate and people question the system,

Olivia Wilde
Director of ‘Don’t worry, dear’

Faced with such a mess, the film’s press conference was also the noisiest and most massive in Venice. The first question was already about Pugh’s absence. Olivia Wilde first thanked Dennis Villeneuve for letting the actress go to the red carpet, and then assured that “Florence is a force of nature and she is fantastic in the film.” “We are grateful that she can be here tonight. About the tabloid nonsense and gossip that feeds the Internet. I’m not going to contribute to that, ”she settled.

She elaborated more on the importance of making entertainment with a feminist background, at this time: “The idea of ​​this film is unfortunately timely but it is also something that has always happened throughout history. I do not know of a time when it is not relevant to fight against the control of bodies, so we must continue the conversation. I hope it sparks a debate and people question the system, even though it’s a movie made from entertainment. The film is intentionally provocative, I have always believed in disruption as a necessary tool in society”. Two weeks left until Do not worry dear, come to the rooms. At the rate that everything has gone, five other controversies can still come out to feed a bonfire that hopefully does not burn the film.



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