Joining a handful of recent dramas centering on the coercive control of women at the hands of their partners is Alice, Darling, out today. Anna Kendrick plays the titular Alice, whose life outwardly looks perfect – handsome, creative boyfriend Simon (Charlie Carrick), a lovely home – but as she frantically tries to wash the phone number of a handsome waiter down the sink or pulls out her hair, it soon emerges that her relationship is not as it seems. During a week away with longtime friends Sophie (Wunmi Mosaku) and Tess (Kaniehtiio Horn) – which Alice lies to Simon about, telling him she’s on a work trip – the truth of how he controls her world, and the fear she has of him, emerges and the red flags begin to unfurl.
“Kendrick is quietly compelling in this pared-back thriller,” says Stylist’s entertainment director Helen Bownass. “It’s powerful to see her in this difficult role – having also recently spoken about the emotional abuse she personally endured in a relationship adds extra poignancy. If you ignore the clunky subplot about a missing girl, Alice, Darling’s depiction of the insidious, invisible wounds that are impossible to scratch away, and the erosion of sense of self that emotional abuse can cause, will worm deep in your brain.” In cinemas now