Promising Young Woman
Although this thriller has darkly comic elements, it also doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to its examination of gender politics, victim blaming and sexual assault. Carey Mulligan gives a multi-layered central performance that goes far beyond the simple femme fatale revenge tale that you may have been expecting.
Premise: Cassie (Carey Mulligan), a 30-year-old medical school drop-out, spends her days working in a coffee shop, and her nights frequenting clubs looking for men who are willing to take advantage of drunk, vulnerable women.
Review:
I almost don’t want to say too much about the plot to Promising Young Woman, as the way the story slowly unfolds and escalates is all part of the film’s appeal. What I can say, without straying into spoiler territory, is that right from the opening scene, we see Cassie (Carey Mulligan) pretending to be very drunk in nightclubs, to see if any of the patrons there will attempt to take advantage of her. What motivates her borderline vigilante activities is slowly revealed over the course of the film, as a connection from her past reawakens painful memories.
One of the (many) painfully realistic points that the film makes, is that the type of men who prey on vulnerable women are not always the “alpha-man predators” that you might expect, but rather, they’re men who would often be seen by others (and themselves) as “good guys”. In this respect, the casting here is great, as actors like Adam Brody and Chris Lowell are traditionally known for playing sympathetic, likeable and non-threatening male characters. The film also manages to convey the lack of self-awareness that men in these situations often display, where they fail to even understand why what they’re doing is wrong. It’s an indictment that nearly every male character in this film either thinks they’ve done nothing wrong, or thinks they’re still an inherently good person even if they’ve made mistakes in their past.
“…Carey Mulligan captures Cassie’s righteous fury & thirst for some kind of justice…”
The entire supporting cast is great, with Clancy Brown and Jennifer Coolidge making a particularly big impression as Cassie’s supportive yet exasperated parents. Alison Brie, Alfred Molina, Connie Britton and Bo Burnham all bring a lot of depth to their roles as characters from Cassie’s past, even though most of them only appear for a couple of scenes each.
But as great as the supporting cast is, this is absolutely Carey Mulligan’s film. She’s in almost every scene, and her performance deservedly earned her an Oscar nomination (at the time of writing this review, the Oscars have yet to be announced). Mulligan not only captures Cassie’s righteous fury and thirst for some kind of justice and accountability, but also her uncertainty and lack of direction – when we first meet her, she’s clearly been doing what she’s doing for some time, but she appears not to have any clear endgame or ultimate goal. Like the film itself, Carey Mulligan’s performance has moments of dark humour, but I wouldn’t necessarily call the film a black comedy, as unlike, say, I Care A Lot, there was never enough humour to put a smile on my face given the seriousness of the subject matter.
“…just enough fantasy to keep the story entertaining, without losing any of its impact…”
The film also strikes an effective balance between the heightened reality of a usual revenge thriller, and the gritty realism of an “Oscar-worthy” drama. Writer Emerald Fennell, who makes an impressive directorial debut here, gives the audience just enough fantasy to keep the story entertaining, but keeps it grounded enough that it never loses any of its impact. The final act, in particular, did not develop the way I expected it to, and a number of scenes pack real emotional punches. Emerald Fennell totally deserved her Best Original Screenplay BAFTA win, as well as her Best Film, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay nominations (at the time of writing this review, the Oscars have yet to be announced).
Promising Young Woman tackles a number of topical issues, but it never feels like it’s crudely cashing in on the #MeToo movement. If anything, films like this might help open up debate about victim blaming, sexual predation, and rape denial/apologist culture, and just as some of the characters in the film learn to look at situations differently once they see things from a new perspective, hopefully there’ll be people in the audience whose own sense of empathy is increased after watching this film.
“…a film that played on my mind for several days after I saw it…”
Make no mistake, while Promising Young Woman is a great (and entertaining) film, it is not always an easy watch. Some scenes are distressing within the context of the film itself, but others are distressing simply because they accurately depict the realities of the real world, where only a fraction of rapes and sexual assaults are ever reported, and even fewer are prosecuted successfully. In this respect, Promising Young Woman is certainly a film that played on my mind for several days after I saw it.
I believe this film is designed to be an entertaining thriller, rather than a depressingly realistic piece of social commentary – and in that respect, it certainly succeeds. But it also doesn’t shy away from making some genuine and heartfelt points about the changes that we as a society need to make. All in all, it’s one hell of an impressive debut, marking Emerald Fennell out as one to watch.
