Alice, Darling

2023 Lionsgate

Rated: R

Length: 1 hr 29min

Drama ~ Thriller

Starring: Anna Kendrick, Kaniehtiio Horn, Charlie Carrick, and Wunmi Mosaku.

“I know this sounds crazy, but sometimes it feels like he can read my mind and there’s nowhere left that I can actually be alone.”

Anna Kendrick stars as Alice who is in a relationship with her boyfriend Simon (Charlie Carrick). He seems to be very controlling, leaving very little room in her life for her own thoughts, anyone or anything else. As she is trying to enjoy a girl’s night out with her two friends Sophie (Wunmi Mosaku) and Tess (Kaniehtiio Horn), Simon is constantly texting Alice. When Alice goes to the bathroom he texts and demands a pic of her breasts, something to look forward to when she finally gets home. Sophie and Tess tell Alice that they want to go away for a week to Sophie’s family house by the lake to celebrate Tess’s 40th birthday together, a girl’s only vacation.

Alice reluctantly agrees knowing that Simon won’t approve or allow her to go away without him, so she lies and says she must go away for work. The girls head out together and drive to Tess’s family lake house. Over the course of the next several days it becomes painfully obvious to Tess and Sophie that there is something different about Alice. That there is something deeply troubling her, and start to ask about Simon. At first their insistence leads to quarrels and heated arguments, and Alice threatens to leave. Eventually they get through to Alice and try to make her realize that she is in a very toxic controlling relationship.

But only after they staged their own little intervention and hid Alice’s phone. In doing so they cut Simon off from controlling her through the phone and Alice starts to think for herself. But Simon digs through her emails and finds out the truth about where Alice is and decides to show up at the lake house. Sophie and Tess are less than pleased and things get very tense as Simon tries to re-assert dominance over Alice. He convinces her that they must leave in the morning and get back home to their lives. Sophie and Tess have their own idea about that and the next morning turns into a showdown.

From the very beginning you know that there is something deeply troubling Alice. She looks very nervous and is constantly pulling her hair. It is subtle but starts to grow as you realize that Simon is very controlling. There are flashbacks to moments in Alice’s relationship with Simon where he is very disparaging towards her. Criticizing her every thought and action, slowly gaining control of her very psyche through humiliation. I kept waiting for the scenes of physical violence due to the tenseness in the scenes, but in the end you realize it is purely psychological and emotional abuse.

Narcissist is as Narcissist does. Belittling, humiliating, making you seem flawed so they can feel better about themselves. The only way they can feel superior to another human being because they themselves are incredibly flawed and broken inside. Their inferiority complex runs so deep that the only way to compensate is to make you feel or appear to be less than. Run Forrest Run! Easier said than done. That is the point of the movie. And I think the movie, Anna Kendrick, Kaniehtiio Horn, Charlie Carrick, Wunmi Mosaku and the director Mary Nighy (In her Directorial Debut) did a good job of driving that point home.

I think the movie made a good point about getting help. If you are in a troubled relationship, reach out to your friends, let them know what is going on like Alice did. Hopefully your friends will be like Sophie and Tess, stepping in to say ,”No, that’s not normal or alright.” There is a subplot in the movie about a missing girl. I think it is pure genius, it is a metaphor for Alice in her relationship with Simon. Alice is lost and is slowly dying in her relationship.

It is not for everyone but I liked it and think it is definitely worth a watch.

Two Thumbs Up!