What is the mystery at the center of that Don’t Worry Darling ending? (And no, we’re not talking about "spitgate"). The plot of the psychological thriller teases that something sinister is at play in the seemingly charming town of Victory where married couple, Alice (Florence Pugh) and Jack (Harry Styles) live.
Now that you can watch Don’t Worry Darling in theaters, you can go watch and unravel the mystery for yourself. But if you still have questions we’re here to help explain the Don’t Worry Darling ending.
Read on to find out exactly what the Victory project is, whether Alice and Jack make it what and the final moments of the movie.
**SPOILERS AHEAD**.
The Don’t Worry Darling ending explained: what is the Victory Project?
Victory is the name of the community located in the desert where Alice, Jack and their friends live. The men are all employees of something called the Victory Project, led by the mysterious Frank (Chris Pine), while the women stay at home or enjoy group activities like shopping, dancing or lounging by the pool (with all the other company wives). There are a few rules: the women cannot go beyond the border of the town into the desert and the men cannot tell their wives exactly what they’re working on outside of stating they're "developing progressive materials."
One day, Alice sees a plane crash in the desert and makes the decision to try and help. When out there she doesn’t find the plane but instead she comes across a mysterious building at the top of a mountain. After touching it she has strange visions and blacks out, waking up hours later in her bed at home with no explanation as to how she got there. The visions and other unusual phenomena continue for Alice, leading to confrontations with Jack and Frank. The men both claim that she's going through a psychotic episode and have her taken away for treatment — just as happened to Alice's friend Margaret (Kiki Layne) earlier in the movie.
While being treated with electroshock therapy, Alice learns that Victory is not actually the real world. It's a simulation. The Victory Project is an attempt to regress to an idealized 1950s life — where women are homemakers who attend to their husband’s every whim and the men are the protectors. The men of Victory exit and enter the simulation every day, paying to continue being a part of the Victory Project and to maintain their wives’ "body health" in the real world.
While some women, like Bunny (played by Olivia Wilde), have chosen to join the Victory Project (in her case this is so she gets to live in a world where her children are alive again — shades of WandaVision), most situations seem to be like Alice and Jack's, where Jack traps Alice in this simulated world. In the real world (pre-Victory Project simulation), Alice was a doctor who'd been dating Jack. Their relationship had been going downhill as he was out of work and when she picked up extra shifts to help support them he felt emasculated. He begins listening to online clips from Frank that promote the Victory Project and gets sucked in (it's a social media morality tale, people!).
The Don’t Worry Darling ending explained: what happens to Alice and Jack?
After receiving her "treatment," Alice is believed to be cured and returns to Victory. However, when Jack hums a tune that in the real world he used to sing to Alice (and that Alice had in her head the entire movie but could never place), the truth comes rushing back to her. She confronts Jack, who tries to convince her that he did what he did so they could live a perfect life. Alice isn’t buying it though. When Jack tries to use force to control her, Alice smashes a glass against his head, killing Jack.
Bunny arrives shortly after and explains to Alice that even though this is a simulation if you die in Victory you also die in the real world. So Jack is really dead. Bunny tells Alice that she needs to escape Victory both to make sure that her physical body won’t die now that Jack can no longer take care of her and so the people behind The Victory Project don't try to silence her.
Don't Worry Darling ending explained: does Alice escape Victory?
Alice gets in Jack’s car and makes for the desert, pursued by Victory employees. During the chase, Dr. Collins (Timothy Simmons) — one of the architects behind the Victory Project — drives after her as well, but he gets in a crash with other Victory employees and dies, giving Alice a solid head start on others pursuing her.
Frank is monitoring the whole thing from his home in Victory. However, when he learns Dr. Collins is dead and Alice has a clear path to escaping, he is stabbed by his wife Shelley (Gemma Chan), who says that it’s her turn to take over.
Back in the desert, Alice drives up the mountain towards the building that acts as the portal back to the real world, but in her hurry crashes the car and gets stuck, so she goes the rest of the way on foot. As her pursuers close in on her, she reaches the building but before she touches it she has a hallucination of Jack, asking her to stay with him. The pursuers are just steps away when Alice touches the portal and we see the series of images Alice has hallucinated for most of the movie (black-and-white chorus line dancers, a retina). The screen cuts to black and all we hear is Alice gasp for breath before the title appears and the credits roll.
So did Alice escape? Don’t Worry Darling clearly opted for an ambiguous ending. The first time that Alice touched the building she woke up in her bed in Victory with a similar gasp, though that was when Jack was alive to probably put her back into the simulation. Was Shelley able to force Alice back into the simulation (and was she responsible for Alice's hallucination of Jack, too)? Or, is that gasp for breath Alice finally awakening from the Victory Project and heading back to living her own life?
So, it's up to you how you want to interpret the Don't Worry Darling ending, but we personally hope that Alice was successful in escaping Victory.
