Alice, Darling

Alice, Darling is a bold and powerful step forward in Anna Kendrick’s career that allows her to really show off the range we knew she had, but maybe hasn’t had a chance to fully explore yet.

It’s a chilling little film, avoiding maximalism at every turn, a bold debut from Nighy (whose only real slip-up is a score that can feel dull and uninspired) and a difficult reminder of a difficult experience. The chill will linger for a while.

With a dialogue-driven, authentic screenplay by Alanna Francis, an effectively poignant score by Owen Pallett and powerful work by Kendrick and Kaniehtiio Horn and Wunmi Mosaku as Alice’s best friends, this is the kind of intimate drama that sticks with you long after the viewing experience.

Alice Darling successfully lays bare the realities emotional and verbal abuse has on victims, while also highlighting how the smallest shows of support can be exactly what victims need to change their circumstances.

What’s impressive about this psychological thriller, the debut feature film from director Mary Nighy, is how tuned in it is to the dynamics of female friendship.

It’s a movie about a toxic relationship that digs into the harrowing psychological details of mental and verbal abuse without exploiting it. It’s also a single-minded PSA picture — indie portraiture with hardly any identifying details filled in.

The intended overarching message is that vile men can exercise a kind of mind control over their innocent girlfriends. Perhaps. But Alice, Darling delivers an equally striking unintended message: that two people in a failing relationship have a tendency to bring out the worst in each other.

IN A NUTSHELL: Oscar nominee Anna Kendrick (“Up in the Air”) stars as a woman pushed to the breaking point by her psychologically abusive boyfriend, Simon. While on vacation with two close girlfriends, Alice rediscovers the essence of herself and gains some much-needed perspective. Slowly, she starts to fray the cords of codependency that bind her. But Simon’s vengeance is as inevitable as it is **** – and, once unleashed, it tests Alice’s strength, her courage, and the bonds of her deep-rooted friendships. This is the directorial debut of Mary Nighy. It was written by Alanna Francis. TIPS FOR PARENTS: Kids will be bored. Besides that, it’s inappropriate for children. Profanity, including F-bombs Crude conversations about male body parts and talk of sex A single woman takes a picture of her chest to send to her boyfriend. We see an unmarried couple in the shower and bed (nothing revealing) There’s an awkward clothed sex scene THINGS I LIKED: I’m such a fan of Anna Kendrick. She does a good job in this, although I don’t think it’s her best work. In reality, she kind of plays a similar character in most of her movies. Even still, I like her. The rest of the cast includes Kaniehtiio Horn, Wunmi Mosaku, and Charlie Carrick. The story mostly takes place at and around a lakehouse with beautiful views of trees and water. There is a side story about a missing young woman that people in the community are desperately searching for. It makes an impact on Anna Kendrick’s character and is a sober reminder that kidnappings occur often all around us. Hopefully, this movie will be a warning to women to carefully consider the red flags in their relationships and to stay connected to their friends who are committed to telling the truth and protecting one another. We see a character literally pull her hair out. Self-punishment is a serious sign that something is not right. The storytelling is fairly straightforward and simple, yet makes an impact. THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE: It’s advertised as a thriller, yet there really isn’t anything suspenseful to earn that title until the last 10 minutes. Simon is portrayed as the villain, yet the flashbacks don’t paint the angry, violent man we’re supposed to believe he is. We definitely see a few glimpses, especially in the end, but it makes the audience also wonder if Anna Kendrick’s character is just naturally unhinged since we don’t get to see what she was like before the events in the movie. It’s very slow-moving. There’s a scene where the girlfriends sing while walking down a street. We know two of the actresses can sing very well in real life, so it was disappointing to hear them sound awful in that scene. I would love to have heard Anna Kendrick sing the closing song.

'Alice, Darling' touches on the critical subject of emotional abuse and how violence doesn't only involve something physical. Anna Kendrick gives an excellent performance as Alice, a woman who has fallen prey to a manipulator; the anxiety she transmits in some very crude scenes is notable. However, the story is very thin, and maybe that's why there's a subplot of a missing girl that tries to fill in the runtime forcing you to think what would the possible outcome of Alice's relationship be; the idea is not unthinkable, but it feels a little on the nose and didactic. Finally, although anti-climatic, the ending shows one of the ultimate weapons to defend against men like the one portrayed here: sorority.

A edição tenta. E muito. Mas o filme peca pelo básico: diálogos terrivelmente ruins, personagens secundárias mal desenvolvidas, química de centavos entre as amigas. A tensão não é sentida, passa para mera curiosidade. Pelo menos o final ficou convincente, sem ser estridente e sem ter um grande ápice, passou uma sensação de veracidade, tornando interessante de acompanhar. Alice é a típica mulher hétero branca a insegura, que longe de impor-se nos relacionamentos, vai deixando-se conduzir por um namorado macho alfa. À medida que a câmera foca no cotidiano daquela mulher, percebemos suas fragilidades. Aliás, a fotografia, a trilha, a produção, a parte técnica em si, está muito boa, você consegue se ambientar. Entretanto, naquele que seria o fio condutor da trama, fazer o relacionamento tóxico da protagonista sobreviver a uns dias de ausência um do outro, quando Alice vai de viagem com suas amigas para comemorar o aniversário de uma delas, numa casa de campo, aí o filme desaba feio. Primeiro porque o conflito todo é sustentado entre o peso das amizades e do romance, e por incrível que pareça, no quesito amizade o filme explora super mal as três, não há química alguma entre elas. A abordagem que usam (deixando Alice sem o celular para não alimentar o controle do namorado) com umas conversas cafonas e constrangedoras, torna tudo tão robótico e preguiçoso. Pra piorar, o roteiro usa da edição de flhashbacks do relacionamento, numa clara tentativa de pesar mais para o lado do rapaz do que pelas amigas. Pior que a edição ficou muito boa, você sente a mente atormentada da protagonista, quando ela detém o sorriso e o olhar dele nas memórias. Ainda assim, o filme é desequilibrado, e quando todos se juntam, é uma cena constrangedora por segundo. Poderia ser muito mais do que se propaga, já que a violência psicológica é muito bem construída aqui, só faltou ser melhor desenvolvida. Tema bem importante, que faz emergir tanto as questões feministas quanto as de cunho psicológico do século XXI, pena que o resultado final ficou aquém do potencial do material.

Extremely modest, but apparently after so many years Anna Kendrick remembered that she could do more as an actress away from the many mediocre projects she has been involved in over the last decade.

Thought the performances were good but the dialogue and payoff were so dry, it was unfortunately just very boring.