Alice and Jack Chambers (Florence Pugh and Harry Styles) respectively are lucky to be living in the idealized community of Victory, the experimental company town housing the men who work for the top-secret Victory Project and their families. The 1950's societal optimism espoused by their CEO, Frank (Chris Pine)--equal parts corporate visionary and motivational life coach--anchors every aspect of daily life in the tight-knit desert utopia. While the husbands spend every day inside the Victory Project Headquarters, working on the "development of progressive materials", their wives--including Frank's elegant partner and wife, Shelley (Gemma Chan)--get to spend their time enjoying the beauty, luxury and debauchery of their community. Life is perfect, with every resident's needs met by the company. All they ask in return is discretion, loyalty and unquestioning commitment to The Victory cause. But when cracks in her idyllic life begin to appear, exposing flashes of something much more sinister lurking beneath the attractive facade, Alice can't help questioning exactly what they're doing in Victory, and why. Just how much is Alice willing to lose to expose what's really going on in this paradise?
Others to round out the cast are Olivia Wilde as Bunny, Sydney Chandler as Violet, Kate Berlant as Peg, Nick Kroll as Dean, Timothy Simonds as Dr. Collins, Douglas Smith as Bill, Kiki Layne as Margaret and Dita Von Teese as Dita Von Teese.
This was chillingly directed by Olivia Wilde ("Booksmart" '19) plus shorts and music videos. Wilde is one of those actors that has decided to cross that road into the directing realm like her counterparts, Clint Eastwood, Bradley Cooper, George Clooney, Ben Alleck, Angelina Jolie, Mel Gibson, Woody Allen, Kevin Costner, etc. The company is so rich in talent that it shouldn't be a surprise that yet another actor has decided to cross that line. Even though her directing experience is as limited as it is, her direction of this was chilling, intense and cutting. Being an actor herself, she knows what it is like to be able to extract those emotions from an actor to be able to convey that raw believability to the audience so they believe the emotions they are seeing on the screen. If you like this brand of directing, her "Perfect" is in pre-production. It was written with high energy by Katie Silberman ("Set It Up" '18, "Isn't It Romantic" '19, "Booksmart" '19) plus shorts, based on the story by Carey Van Dyke, Shane Van Dyke and Katie Silberman. As I've mentioned in the preface, this reminds me so much of "The Stepford Wives" in that the wives are incredibly controlled by their husbands in, what looks to be, a cultish atmosphere. The one difference is that in the former, the wives were replaced with robots subservient to the husbands' every whim, whereas in this film, the wives are manipulated and controlled to the point of extreme submission to their husbands. Otherwise, the similarities are stunning. She certainly has talent of being a well-crafted screenwriter, however, with this script, I' not sure if this was performed as a homage to "The Stepford Wives" or just a desperate way to cash in on a very similar premise. I want to believe that it's a homage.
If you liked Ira Levin's "The Stepford Wives", you'll love this, however if you are suspect in this being a copy, then you might want to veer from it. All in all, I did enjoy this--although I liked "The Stepford Wives", so going solely by my recommendation is probably subjective. Certainly both Chris Pine and Florence Pugh were at the top of their game, and if this gets you in the theater, you'll be a better filmgoer for it.
Out of 4 Stars 3 Rated: R 122mins.
No comments:
Post a Comment