Woah-ho! The breadcrumb trail of last year is behind us, and now it’s time to explore the big guns released in January, ahead of award season. The quote atop the Promising Young Woman poster is all I’ve heard about this movie, and what I’ve been led to believe this movie is going to be; ‘game-changing’. I don’t know what it’s all about, nor do I hardly know who is in Promising Young Woman; bring it on!
Written and directed by Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman follows Cassie Thomas (Carey Mulligan); an underachieving barista with a secret propensity of seeking out sleazy guys and calling them out, with table-turning experiences they will never forget. Cassie pretends she is intoxicated and defenceless, just to test how sexually forceful these men might be, before she springs her trap, and has them wetting themselves with regret. Her parents worry about her; Cassie seems to put no value in her own life, stemming from the death of her best friend Nina, which at first, we can only assume came as a result of bad boys doing bad things. Cassie’s vengeful attitude is challenged when an old friend from college, Dr. Ryan Cooper (Bo Burnham), comes back into her life, and maybe it’s time for Cassie to recentre herself.
Carey Mulligan jostles her way into the top echelon of female performances this year; watch out Viola Davis, that second Oscar for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom ain’t yours yet. There are so many integral scenes in this movie, made possible through drop-in performances by some of Hollywood’s most reliable faces – Adam Brody, Alison Brie, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Alfred Molina, Connie Britton, Molly Shannon, Chris Lowell, Max Greenfield – don’t get attached though, because they don’t stay around for long. I like Molina the best, but honestly, they’re all great; so are Jennifer Coolidge and Clancy Brown as Cassie’s parents, and Laverne Cox as Cassie’s confidant and boss. It’s time Bo Burnham became a serious movie star too please.
By my estimation, the opening sequence of a movie is the easiest to make interesting, and the most important place to entice an audience, since it is the audience’s entry point, obviously; Promising Young Woman has the best opening sequence I have seen in a long time – not truly knowing what to expect, it seemed like only a matter of time before Cassie turned on Adam Brody’s character Jerry, ready to fuck(!) him(!) up(!)! I love the glare at the camera Cassie gives, followed by the sauce dripping down her hand to suggest a bloody end for Jerry, and the bold stare at the cowardly construction workers cat-calling our heroine. Promising Young Woman has everything, from a quippy script to multiple tension-fuelled scenarios – if you’re yet to see Promising Young Woman, don’t expect anything less than edge-of-your-seat stuff. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more surreal blend of thrilling and unsettling. The movie literally runs you through the gauntlet of film-inducing emotions – at times, I felt queasy, whilst other times I was blissfully smiling or symbiotically drunk with rage along with Cassie. By the time Alison Brie’s character shows up for a second time, the movie has changed so much in tone that it’s like ‘oh bother’, because Nina’s Mum (Molly Shannon) has effectively urged Cassie to move on. The phone Madison (Brie) leaves in the middle of the table is like a poisoned chalice; even Cassie knows by engaging with it, she is going to tear down the peace she has been building putting Nina in the rear-view mirror.
Promising Young Woman is honestly as thrilling as 1917, which is strange to think about, since one is a war adventure and one is a tale of revenge. Rape revenge flicks have been done before – I have seen I Spit on Your Grave and I think I understand the generic premise; a woman is sexually defiled, and, as agreeably the worst thing you can do to a person, all gloves are off in her retaliation. Promising Young Woman is interesting because it has Cassie enacting the revenge as a third party, whilst also, explicitly exploring how damaging holding on to that hurt can be. It’s like what Aunt May says in Spider-Man 3; revenge is like a poison, it can take you over, and before you know it, turn you into something ugly. This movie reminded me of Trainwreck too, a little bit, from the avenue it was walking for a little while – girl must give up her wild destructive days for her own release, now that a noble mate has entered her life. This movie also provides another example as to why femme-fatales (usually spies or assassins, not so often intelligent vigilantes) are so effective, and important in exposing the lack of respect men show women as a potential threat; act drunk, no questions asked. Park in the middle of the road like a crazy person; ripe for verbal abuse. Dress like a stripper, and without a word, the door opens up for you. Femme-fatale stories expose how easily corruptible and gullible men are for underestimating femininity… and people say femme-fatales are outdated and sexist, pls.
This is the most effective discourse on rape I think I’ve ever seen. I love how Cassie explains that, not only did Al (Chris Lowell) assault Nina in the act of the moment, but it destroyed her psyche, and her social standing, that forever became associated with Al, while the person that Nina used to be sunk away until it ceased to be; this is why excuses like ‘we didn’t realise it was wrong at the time’ or ‘we were just kids’ are not good enough. I usually shudder at the pretense when people claim that ‘this is the sort of movie that they should show in schools’, but… this is the sort of movie that they should show in schools. I don’t know, maybe not; it is very heavy. But, fuck me, that’s life. My own anecdotal evidence always leads me to say that I have never been in an environment (a group of friends or sporting club) that led me to believe it was ever ‘okay to rape’, but if anyone feels like they need another lesson on the matter, then Promising Young Woman is it. DON’T. RAPE.
5.0
P.S. Although I’m raving about this movie, I think it’s equally important to point out that I think Promising Young Woman is only detailing one specific slice of a very large pie as to how men and women interact. In a vain world, where a woman’s primary value is her beauty, and a man’s primary value is his prowess and stature, the movie (and hopefully not all women) seems very okay with it when it works in favour. When Cassie says she could have the husband, the house, the kids in 10 minutes, I believe her. She is afforded that efficiency due to her beauty – obviously not her achievements, as the movie points out she has none. I wonder, how many men could say the same thing? On the other side, the movie seems most concerned that Ryan is a doctor, with Cassie’s parents even joking-but-not-joking about him being rich. He’s also statedly funny and an impromptu dancer; the only particulars of his personality, with the latter only coming after the movie has already deemed him acceptable though. You’re kidding yourself if you’re looking to build a solid relationship based on vanity, but that’s usually where attraction first starts, and there are shallow trophy hunters out there, on both sides.
As men, and eager as we are, it usually falls to us to make the sexual advancement, and whoever makes a move risks being called a creep. I mean, Ryan drinks spit in his coffee for God’s sake, and because Cassie is impressed, it’s fine. But, if she wasn’t impressed, Ryan could quite easily be labelled as completely feral. You don’t always know if you’re going to land or crash until you try. Yes, when things go wrong, there’s more chance of a violent and lasting altercation for women, which is the focus of this movie. I like how the movie shows Jerry; he makes a seemingly chivalrous move to get ‘drunk’ Cassie home at first, until he goes for a little bit more, then goes for a little bit more, until suddenly he’s not a nice guy anymore – I’m grateful for this movie highlighting the pitfalls of ‘nice guys’, slapping them over the head with this behaviour as a vile example of how to go way too far. I used to get offended when silly media personalities would say we shouldn’t need to teach our girls how to be safe; we should just be teaching our men not to rape – that’s like saying, ‘I shouldn’t need to look both ways before crossing the street because cars shouldn’t hit me either’, and we can’t do both? But I decided that there’s some merit in guilt; although I’m not personally responsible when another man assaults a woman, I think men should take it personally, as if a member of the tribe has let the team down and we’re not about that.
‘Benefit of the doubt’ is a crude way to put it, and he-said-she-said scenarios are cruel for any innocent victim, but the justice system is effectively set up to uphold ‘innocent until proven guilty’ for good reason. In this particular scenario though, where Nina was at the top of her class, her mood obviously changed after the incident for anyone who noticed, she was raped in a group setting, with video evidence to find; it is abysmal that Dean Elizabeth Walker (Connie Britton) didn’t investigate further with the excuse of potentially jeopardising Al’s reputation. Abysmal. But not all rape scenarios are as clear-cut as this; unfortunate as it is.
I’ve kept this discussion separate from my review, because it’s not really ‘about’ the movie, it’s more big discussion points that come out of the movie. I could be rambling, or dumb, and you may disagree, but the reason I propose Promising Young Woman has potential to be shown in schools is that it provides a good jumping-off point to have these discussions, starting at the most urgent juncture of male and female interaction; that is, of sexual assault and disrespect. Ultimately though, it’s important to remember how this movie ends; it’s not like systematic ‘authority’, the justice department or police do not care about these issues, as the police sirens eventually come whirling in the middle of wedding cake.
P.P.S. At first, I found it a bit limp that Cassie is only counting sleazebags, instead of slaughtering them, like the movie would have us believe in the first half; but thinking on it, I suppose it helps the ending work, as Cassie is redeemable, and the final outcomes are more shocking. Also, the soundtrack is great! Paris Hilton and all.
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