“Alice Darling” with Anna Kendrick: an accurate portrait of the psychological abuse victim Review of the drama “Alice Darling” starring Anna Kendrick

The smiling and good-natured Alice meets her two friends Tess and Sophie at a restaurant. As the girls cheerfully chat about life, Alice’s cell phone begins to fill with messages. She actively writes to her boyfriend Simon, an artist tormented by doubts about her own talent. If Alice doesn’t comfort and entertain him, Simon will be capricious and sullenly scolding his lover: is it really difficult to go to the bathroom and take a few sexy selfies in the middle of a meeting with friends because your lover is bored?

Having fulfilled all of Simon’s wishes before, Meek Alice decides to disobey one day. Her friends invite Tess on a week-long country trip to celebrate her upcoming birthday. Alice agrees and lies to Simon about her forced business trip. Just a few days later, the deceptively perfect facade of the girl’s life is shattered, as is his own.

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Still from the movie Alice Darling (2023)

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Alice Darling is Mary Nighy’s feature film debut at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2022. The independent psychological violence horror film received rave reviews and 84% approval on Rotten Tomatoes. However, the audience assessment turned out to be more restrained – only 43%. It seems that the audience was frankly confused when the eyes of the critics were able to see a film, albeit modest, but still worthy of attention and praise.

At the same time, the confusion of the audience is understandable. “Alice, Darling” is a slow and flawed project about mobbing, slurring about it seems like bad behavior, and it’s getting harder and harder to find more creative ways of expression here. But Mary Nighy has done a great job at this.

The director tells his story with clues in the first half of the movie: Here Alice dodges Simon’s next message, writing warm and kind words to him, but in the next second the girl starts to worry that she might do something. wrong and it upsets her boyfriend and she vomits after that and completely “for no reason”. Alice pulls her hair out at the busiest moments, but until a certain time she continues to keep her secrets safely, and with Simon’s first call, she intends to run away from her friends and distance themselves until she begins to act decisively. the victim and his torturer.

By the way, the scenes with the hero’s friends are incredibly convincing in the simplicity of his artistic decisions. Tess and Sophie are also confused and shocked at first, but at the key moment they find a way to win back their friend from the clutches of evil.

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Still from the movie Alice Darling (2023)

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Talking about violence is still very difficult. Literally surviving – due to the still existing public censorship; Filmmakers who want to reflect on the screen – because of the shabby form.

Released in the 1940s, “Gaslight” has not been filmed since perhaps the first major Hollywood movie devoted to the subject of abuse (which also gave birth to the term “gaslighting”). In Bed with the Enemy, Julia Roberts’ protagonist escaped from her abusive husband by faking her own death. Just released, teenage “Fear” starring Reese Witherspoon and Mark Wahlberg has turned the topic of relationship violence into complete nonsense. later drama “Asthma” he focused only on physical violence, avoiding showing the victim’s psychological trauma.

“Alice, Darling” inherits the experience of completely different representatives of the genre. In 1974, John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands collaborated to release the touching Woman Under the Influence, about a quiet housewife driven mad by an indifferent husband, noisy children, and the overwhelming responsibilities placed on her shoulders. They had to mortgage their own house and borrow money from friends to make the movie because Hollywood turned its back on such a conspiracy. As one producer put it, “no one wanted to see a middle-aged woman go crazy.”

Half a century later, these women were finally granted the right to vote, and their stories turned out to be deafeningly painful. So one of the most interesting (and underestimated) movies of 2022 was drama. “Resurrection” With Rebecca Hall. In it, the measured life of a successful Margaret is suddenly disrupted by the appearance of her ex. Resurrection is one of the best examples of a complex psychological drama in which the image of a violently shaken human being is shown in the most convincing and detailed way, in form and expression. This is a grueling and in many ways painful film that meticulously examines the subject of abuse in its most unpredictable and horrific form.

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Still from the movie Alice Darling (2023)

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In contrast, Alice Darling deliberately waits before revealing the true form of Anna Kendrick’s relationship with her boyfriend, thus giving the viewer an almost immersive viewing experience. Like the protagonist’s friends, unaware of the ongoing abuse, we believe that the girl forced a smile and reassured him that everything was fine.

And while Nighy’s movie had the toughness of a socialite, it turned out to be more than likely a movie. Kendrick gives one of the best roles in his career, bearing both the hero’s personal injury and the scale of impending tragedy on his fragile shoulders. Moreover, the story itself, built according to the type of nesting doll (from every “it’s okay” a new panic attack arises, bringing the inevitable catharsis closer) looks really successful. In addition, the film at least successfully copes with the important task of reminding us to keep a close eye on those around us and make sure that they are not in danger.