Promising Young Woman
Cassie (Carey Mulligan) and Nina have a promising future ahead of them; the two girls are attending medical school until tragedy strikes. This traumatic event leads to Nina’s suicide and Cassie, haunted by this tragedy, decides to take her revenge on the predatory men who cross her path. Emerald Fennell’s drama subverts the expectations of the subgenre ‘rape and revenge’ and crafts something rather original and unseen. One would expect a violent and graphic movie, like Ferrara’s Ms. 45 or Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo, instead, Fennell takes another direction and makes Cassie’s revenge more psychological as the girl wants those people to face their terrible actions and behaviour.
On her debut feature, the director shows a terrific aesthetic touch. The musical choices are spot on and add that extra punch to some sequences, such as the needle drop of Charli XCX’s Boys in the first club sequence or the insertion of a classical version of Britney Spears’ Toxic in a pivotal scene towards the end. The costumes adopted by Cassie have to be mentioned as well. These are essential in creating the different personas Cassie ‘assumes’ to enact her revenge (the nurse one in particular has the ‘cult’ potential status in the years to come).
Fennell’s script is a great one, and the movie wouldn’t really work without it. There’s a perfect balance between the satirical and intense elements but also the genuine emotions one can feel. The subject matter is very timely and Fennell makes the audience understand all the frustrations, the anger and the pain of her main character. But Cassie is more than just a character. Through her, Fennell embodies every woman who has been subjugated and abused by these men and screwed by a society that was not able to defend and provide justice for them.
‘I didn’t even do anything’, ‘he’s a nice guy’ or ‘I have to give him the benefit of the doubt’ are phrases that can be heard more than once throughout the movie as some characters try to explain their actions or justify others. But Cassie does not spare anyone and takes revenge on everyone who had the slightest involvement with Nina’s tragedy.
Promising Young Woman‘s best aspect though is Carey Mulligan’s performance. The British actress is bound to receive her second Academy Award nomination and it would be truly deserving as the she delivers her finest work to date. Mulligan excels in each scene she’s in. Her ‘drunk’ acting is both believable and moderate and she is great in each ‘character’ Cassie plays. What’s even more impressive is that the actress shows, in each moment of her performance, this harrowing state caused by Nina’s tragedy. The movie never depicts a scene between the two friends, which doesn’t even prove necessary, since Fennell’s script and especially Mulligan’s performance allow the audience to understand the importance of Nina’s friendship to Cassie.
Mulligan shares terrific chemistry with the whole cast. Her scenes with Bo Burnham are very tender and allow the actress to show a more spontaneous side within Cassie. Her interactions with both Alison Brie and Alfred Molina’s characters are also very effective despite the brief screen time.
The last quarter of the movie will probably divide the general opinion as it takes a more standard approach, which is not a flaw per se, but with all the greatness that preceded the climax, one would expect a more radical and darker ending.
Despite that, Promising Young Woman is a great movie. Both Emerald Fennell and Carey Mulligan do an outstanding job and the latter’s acting performance won’t be easily forgotten in the months to come.