History Film / DontWorryDarling

* MeaningfulRename: A dark example. [[spoiler: Alice uses the surname "Warren" in the real world, which is presumably her own family name. However, she uses the name "Chambers" in the Victory simulation, reflecting the fact that married women in the 1950s assumed their husbands' last names - another means for Jack to assert control over her.]]

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: [[spoiler:Frank's real-world counterpart is reminiscent of right-wing "incel" commentary channels, especially how they lure insecure young men who feel unloved and looked down upon into following their harmful rhetoric. Many of these commentators also idolize the old-fashioned patriarchal values of the mid-20th century, hence why the simulation is reminiscent of the 1950s.]]

* CosmicDeadline: The main twist isn't revealed until well over half the runtime and then it takes longer still for Alice to realize what's truly going on and react accordingly. Prior to this there are only has vague hints as to what's happening and by this point there isn't much time left, so the movie rushes through the climax (in span of about 20 to 15 minutes [[spoiler:Alice realizes the Victory Projects is a simulation that she and most of the other women have been forced into, confronts Jack and accidentally kills him, finds out Bunny knew all along but stays because her kids are dead in the real world, and gets into a car chase to escape the simulation while Frank is killed by his wife elsewhere]]). The ending resolves the storyline abruptly and ambiguously, leaving a lot of dangling plot threads and unexplained elements.

* ChainedToABed: [[spoiler:Jack keeps Alice tied to a bed in a flophouse while they're in the Victory simulation.]]

* Foreshadowing: Dr. Collins brings up the British phrase "keep calm and carry on" during his visit with Jack and Alice. While the posters were made during World War II, they were virtually unknown until the 2000s when they were rediscovered and became a MemeticMutation, [[spoiler:a big clue that this isn't actually taking place in the '50s.]]

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: InUniverse. Dr. Collins brings up the British phrase "keep calm and carry on" during his visit with Jack and Alice. While the posters were made during World War II, they were virtually unknown until the 2000s when they were rediscovered and became a MemeticMutation. [[spoiler:This actually serves as a clue as to the truth about Victory.]]

* AintTooProudToBeg: Frank announces that Jack has received a promotion to "the special advisory council", then "suggests" that Jack dance in celebration. Jack actually puts on quite a good performance, but that doesn't change the fact that he's being made to dance for Frank's amusement in order to receive his much-desired promotion.

* BedTrick: Victory lends itself to a variant of these, with this a possible interpretation of all the sex that takes place within. [[spoiler:All the men are pretending to be someone else to a greater or lesser degree, posing as more handsome and successful versions of themselves, while imprisoning their wives' consciousnesses.]]

* FemaleMisogynist: [[spoiler: Shelley is aware of the true nature of Victory, and she actively works to keep the other women under control. When Frank allows Alice to escape, she kills him and takes over Victory with no indication that she's going to free the other women. After all, her stated issue with Frank was not that he was misogynist, but that he was stupid. Bunny seems like this at first, ostracizing Margaret and shaming Alice for behaving badly by the standards applied to women within the faux-Fifties framework of Victory, but [[FreudianExcuse her true motivation]] is to protect the illusion where her children are alive]].

* FridgeHorror: In-universe. [[spoiler:When Alice finds out that the wives are trapped in the simulation against their will, she immediately begins worrying about the kids in Victory, wondering if they're trapped as well. Even Jack's reassurance that the kids aren't real don't do much to calm her down.]]

* NewEraSpeech: Frank is full of speeches about how Victory is going to change the world, and how the world belongs to the men of Victory. See BigBadWannabe and SmallNameBigEgo for his ability to actually bring this New Era about.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoiler:Chances are Frank and Jack might have been able to keep Alice imprisoned in Victory if Frank hadn't issued his WorthyOpponent challenge to Alice. It becomes a contributing factor to Alice developing the awareness and determination to break free of Victory. Shelley seems to have come to that conclusion as well, as she calls Frank a "stupid, stupid man" when she kills him.]]

* TheSlacker: [[spoiler:Jack is heavily implied to be this in the real world. For the brief flashes that Alice remembers, Jack is messy and unkempt, doesn't have a job, and spends the entire day on his computer listening to Frank's podcasts while Alice works 30 hour shifts at the hospital, even being too lazy and incompetent to make his own meals while she's gone. He only gets an unspecified job when he needs to finance the Victory simulation to keep Alice under its control, and even then he complains about how much he hates working]].

* RecycledInSpace: ''Film/TheStepfordWives'' in [[spoiler:VIRTUAL REALITY!]]

* SmallNameBigEgo: Frank makes a lot of speeches about how Victory is going to change the world, and the world will be theirs. The men, who know the truth of Victory, seem to believe him. [[spoiler:A throwaway line reveals that there are fewer than 100 people in the Victory simulation, half of whom are the unwillingly participating women. The men, rather than working on some world-changing material or technology when they go to work, are going to standard day jobs in order to keep the simulation running. Victory isn't so much a wide-reaching and influential conspiracy as a small cult of personality built around a charming reactionary misogynist with a relatively obscure podcast who hang out in a glorified video game]].

** Alice is implied to have been captured, rendered unconscious and returned to her Victory home after approaching the Headquarters portal. Jack tries to convince her she took a very long nap at home from exhaustion, and actually didn't see a plane crash near the Headquarters.
** Multiple people try to convince Alice that Margaret only gave herself a minor cut and is well on her way to recovery, contrary to Alice vividly remembering that Margaret slashed her own throat [[DrivenToSuicide to commit suicide]].

* {{Gaslighting}}: After she invites him and some of her other friends to a dinner party, Frank approaches Alice in the kitchen and tells her that he's been waiting for someone to challenge him and implying that her suspicions are correct, knowing that she will try to expose him later over dinner. When she does, Frank then gaslights her and makes her look delusional in front of Jack and all of their friends.

* ChainedToABed: [[spoiler:It's shown that Jack keeps Alice tied to a bed in a flophouse while they're in the Victory simulation.]]

* ClassifiedInformation: Victory seems to be loosely based on Los Alamos, the town where the Manhattan Project, aka the atom bomb, was developed, right down to the men of the town working on some top-secret project. Throughout the film we hear what appears to be underground explosions that are shown to rattle the town, leading to rumors that they are working on a weapon. [[spoiler:It turns out there is no secret project, and the men are leaving the simulation each day to work real-life day jobs to fund their lives in Victory. The "explosions" remain unexplained]].

* HotterAndSexier: In comparison to Creator/OliviaWilde's previous film, ''Film/{{Booksmart}}'', ''Don't Worry Darling'' has even more of an emphasis on sex, to the point of being outright described by some as an erotic thriller. Jack and Alice are shown having intercourse on multiple occasions, [[spoiler:a minor plot-point revolves around Jack deciding he wants them to have a child in Victory, and Alice eventually kills Jack when he tries to force himself on her in the climax]].

* AnAesop: An oppressive system requires the participation of at least some of the oppressed to function. Shelley and Bunny are more active (and vicious) about keeping the other women in their place than the men [[spoiler: despite knowing the true nature of Victory. And the exact second Bunny stops doing so and helps Alice, the whole system breaks down]].

* AmbiguousSituation: Are some of the strange events that Alice experiences - the plane crash, the crushing wall, and the empty eggs in particular - hallucinations? Are they [[spoiler: glitches in the program]]? Or is [[spoiler:someone in control of the program, like Frank, deliberately messing with her]]? It could also be [[spoiler:the real world trickling into the program—for example, the crushing wall could've been caused by Jack tightening her restraints on the bed.]]
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: [[spoiler: Alice's growing suspicions motivate her to press Jack about exactly what kind of work the men are doing in Victory Headquarters. He tries to hide behind confidentiality, but her persistence makes it clear that won't satisfy her. All he can do is mumble and really say nothing. Answering truthfully would lead to him becoming a BrokenPedestal for Alice, and EtTuBrute (which happens eventually anyway). And Jack (given what we learn of his real life) wouldn't have anywhere near the scientific knowledge to come up with a good lie about his supposed work on "progressive materials".]]

* BedTrick: Victory lends itself to a variant of these, with this a possible interpretation of all the sex that takes place within. [[spoiler:All the men are pretending to be someone else to a greater or lesser degree, posing as more handsome and successful versions of themselves, while imprisoning their wives' consciousness.]]

* BusbyBerkeleyNumber: A recurring hallucination that Alice has is of a group of female dancers doing an elaborate dance in a circle formation reminiscent of a Busby Berkeley musical. Given that it's shown when [[spoiler:Jack enters the simulation, it's presumably a way to ease the participants' consciousness into the simulation]].

* ChekhovsSkill: It's mentioned early on when Alice is the only woman in the neighborhood who knows how to drive since Jack has been teaching her. [[spoiler:This becomes useful when Alice has to evade Frank's men and escape the simulation by driving all the way to the Victory Project headquarters.]]
* ClassifiedInformation: Victory seems to be loosely based on Los Alamos, the town where the Manhattan Project, aka the atom bomb, was developed, right down to the men of the town working on some top-secret project. Throughout the film we hear what appears to be underground explosions that are shown to rattle the town, leading to rumors that they are working on a weapon. [[spoiler:It turns out there is no secret project, and the men are leaving the simulation each day to work real-life day jobs to fund their lives in Victory.]]

* CompanyTown: The small town of Victory was founded and run by Frank as part of his Victory Project, and is continuing to expand with a so-called "Phase Two". [[spoiler:It's later revealed that Victory is actually a simulation, and the male residents are willingly taking part in it while most of the women are forcefully trapped]].

* FemaleMisogynist: [[spoiler: Shelley is aware of the true nature of Victory, and she actively works to keep the other women under control. When Frank allows Alice to escape, she kills him and takes over Victory with no indication that she's going to free the other women. After all, her issue with Frank was not that he was misogynist, but that he was stupid. Bunny seems like this at first, ostracizing Margaret and shaming Alice for behaving badly by the standards applied to women within the faux-Fifties framework of Victory, but [[FreudianExcuse her true motivation]] is to protect the illusion where her children are alive]].

* SmallNameBigEgo: Frank makes a lot of speeches about how Victory is going to change the world, and the world will be theirs. The men, who know the truth of Victory, seem to believe him. [[spoiler:A throwaway line reveals that there are fewer than 100 people in the Victory simulation, half of whom are the unwillingly participating women. The men, rather than working on some world-changing material or technology when they go to work, are going to standard day jobs in order to keep the simulation running. Victory isn't so much a wide-reaching and influential conspiracy as a small cult of personality built around a charming reactionary misogynist with a relatively obscure podcast]].

* SmallNameBigEgo: Frank makes a lot of speeches about how Victory is going to change the world, and the world will be theirs. The men, who know the truth of Victory, seem to believe him. [[spoiler:A throwaway line reveals that there are fewer than 100 people in the Victory simulation, half of whom are the unwillingly participating women. The men, rather than working on some world-changing material or technology when they go to work, are going to standard day jobs. Victory isn't so much a wide-reaching and influential conspiracy as a small cult of personality built around a charming reactionary misogynist]].

* SpottingTheThread: During the dinner party, Alice points out that each of the women has an identical story of how they met their husband: they were on a train to a big city, they dropped their ticket, and he picked it up.

* Ain'tTooProudToBeg: Frank announces that Jack has received a promotion to "the special advisory council", then "suggests" that Jack dance in celebration. Jack actually puts on quite a good performance, but that doesn't change the fact that he's being made to dance for Frank's amusement in order to receive his much-desired promotion.