Lush and gorgeous in black and white, Mickey Keating's 2015 psychological horror Darling has drawn very obvious comparisons to Repulsion, Roman Polanski's 1965 film most known for its prototypical use of a female killer, practically unheard of in the genre at the time. Although flawed, it's an homage that commands—and deserves—attention.
With the absence of modern markers and technology, it looks to be lost in time, and it's a large New York mansion (with a dark history, naturally) that sets the perfect stage for the unnamed title character, who spends most of the film alone, to slowly lose her grip on reality. The movie is told in chapters, the moments that tie it together quietly unnerving and almost coming off as non-sequiturs serving only to illustrate that descent into madness—which, come to think of it, is kind of the point. The only distinct plot lines involve the young woman's sudden, furious fixations on a man from the neighborhood and a locked door upstairs. And by the time the credits roll, you could never quite tell the difference between what was an object of delusion and what really happened.
Darling's rapid nightmare imagery paired with sudden bursts of sound will make your heart stop, but it's the long, anguished sequences and actress Lauren Ashley Carter's piercing stare that will keep you rapt.
