‘Promising Young Woman’ Review: A Thrilling, if Inconsistent, Ride
“Promising Young Woman” is a strange movie. It’s a rape-revenge thriller, but dodges all the cliches of that tired genre. While other films in this vein are very dark, serious, and indulgent in violence and exploitation, “Promising Young Woman” keeps things relatively clean and light. Despite its R-rating, it’s largely free of anything truly lurid, and it maintains a mostly upbeat tone throughout which has the paradoxical effect of making its darker aspects all the more disturbing and sinister. Considering the #MeToo movement’s genesis in Hollywood, a film such as this is, in some way, a film about the filmmaking industry itself. However unlike some of its counterparts, it broadens its view to encompass society at large, to show how the forces behind the Hollywood scandals go on to make life for women perilous in every setting from dating to college.
The movie focuses on Cassandra (Carey Mulligan), a woman who dropped out of medical school to take care of her childhood friend and classmate following a traumatic sexual assault. When her friends commits suicide, she embarks on a quest of revenge against men by posing as a blackout drunk and letting them take her home before turning the tables. When she discovers that one of the perpetrators of the rape that started all this is returning to the United States, she turns her eye toward exacting revenge on everyone who wronged her friend. All the while, she develops a budding relationship with former classmate Ryan (Bo Burnham). Nearly every young man in the movie is portrayed as a creep except for Ryan, who comes off as the only genuinely good person in a sea of obvious douchebags and entitled, predatory “nice guys”.
The performances are all well done especially from the core duo of Mulligan and Burnham. Mulligan imbues her character with a profound sense of brokenness, one that humanizes and complicates her activities out in the world. In spite of all her planning, her revenge feels not so cold and calculated, rather it is almost haphazard and self-destructive. Burnham on the other hand is genuinely charming and acts as a kind of way out for Cassie, a chance to start a new and live a normal life. There are also a couple of great cameos from actors like Alfred Molina, who channels some of the manic energy he had in “Boogie Nights” to play a guilt-wracked lawyer, as well as Clancy Brown in a strangely normal performance as Cassie’s dad.
The film also marks the behind-the-camera debut for actress turned writer-director Emerald Fennell. The writing and direction are not flashy, but fundamentally solid and to the point. The film makes great use of slow push-ins, often in creative and unconventional ways, to draw the viewer’s attention into the scene and create tension. The film is also very unsubtle about what it wants to say, making a very clear and pointed indictment about the evils of predatory men as well as the complicity of all those who allow their crimes to go unpunished or unprevented.
While this all makes for compelling viewing, even providing some very interesting twists along the way, the film does suffer from a lack of clarity in places. It is never entirely clear what Cassie does with the men who take her home. Some of her confrontations end with her spooking the guy while others are more violent, but this violence is only hinted at. Is she a serial killer then? Or just a serial prankster? In many cases her revenge tends to be more psychological than anything. She gives people the impression that something terrible has happened in oder to make them feel guilty, but almost never does anything truly horrible to them. It makes her feel strangely toothless as an anti-hero, although I wonder if Fennell and the studio were concerned about the audience losing sympathy for her if she went “too far”.
“Promising Young Woman” is a great movie in spite of its flaws. While uneven, a little obvious, and suffering from a bit of thematic confusion and an odd ending, it is a very compelling ride anchored by a suite of great performances. It also marks a strong debut for Emerald Fennell, who brings a clear and potent point of view.
