Review: Promising Young Woman (2020)
Directed by Emerald Fennell; screenplay by Emerald Fennell; starring Carey Mulligan, Bo Burnham and Laverne Cox.
Content warning: discussion of sexual assault and rape.
The next stop in my attempt to navigate through the Academy Awards nominees is Promising Young Woman by Emerald Fennell (who I hadn’t realised until now was herself an accomplished actress here in Britain), a bold expression of rage that ultimately falls slightly short with regards to its noble intentions for its inability to stay completely on topic.
During their time at medical school, Cassie’s (Carey Mulligan) best friend Nina was raped at a party whilst heavily intoxicated and took her own life after her accusations fell on deaf ears. Now, Cassie, unable to move on – professionally, personally and psychologically – for the lack of any kind of closure, is on a warpath against all of the men complicit in and benefiting from the culture that resulted in her friend’s death.
This is a laudable film and one that certainly deserves the praise it has received for the unflinching stance it’s taking, but it’s important to consider the film entirely before writing about it – at least that’s what I’ve found. The discomfort it conjures, quite honestly from the very start to its bitter conclusion, is immense in its power and really made me want to jump onto my laptop and start singing its praises however a few moments that gave me pause have been stuck in my mind and I do want to address those here.
Firstly, though, my biggest takeaway from the film was its discomforting realism, not just with regards to Cassie’s downwards spiral (which admittedly I would know quite little about) but also in its depiction of the men she manages to uncover as would-be rapists. Each man rationalises their behaviour in a breadth of different ways when confronted with it. Proclamations of “but I’m a nice guy” are abound here, and even though the typical douchebag alpha-types are present, the film manages to avoid stereotypes to deliver scenarios of sexual danger and violence that don’t need to stray into brutality to prove their nefariousness.
This really is one of those films that forces you, if you have been fortunate enough not to experience it that is, to see the world from a completely different perspective and that’s so commendable. Quite honestly it forced me to confront some latent attitudes and misconceptions I feel I’ve been unable to completely shake. The issues I have with the film, though, sort of bubble up through the cracks at several instances.
The first moment of pause I had was when I realised that it wasn’t Cassie who had experienced the trauma, but her dead friend. Now, there’s certainly an argument to be made either way here and I’m not sure it’s exactly my place to have it, but it had always been my impression from the marketing material that it Cassie was acting on her own behalf throughout the film. As a result, when I discovered this wasn’t the case, it felt slightly off-putting (and not in the way the film intends I think) that Cassie was taking it upon herself to terrorise Nina’s rapists and those who facilitated the act and its coverup on Nina’s behalf without her being able to give any kind of consent. My point here isn’t to say that justice or failing that social justice shouldn’t ever be sought, but taking it upon yourself to seek it out when it’s not yours to do so just leaves a bit of a sour taste in my mouth.
And this isn’t the only moment where the film appears to not quite want to grapple with all of the ramifications for its tale of revenge. When Ryan (Bo Burnham), an old school friend of Cassie’s, shows up at her workplace, Cassie starts to see a future where she may actually be able to heal and move on and this moment is depicted as entirely hopeful. The film goes some way to show Cassie as being in a good place, that is until Cassie is forced to confront the lack of closure for her friend’s death once again for reasons that definitely would find us navigating the land of spoilers. The film here seems to want to have its cake and eat it too, paying lip service to Cassie’s anguish and the residual harm of what happened to her friend, but then playing off her downwards spiral and self-destruction as ultimately empowering and badass.
(Potential spoilers here:) the issue isn’t that Cassie seeks justice, really, it’s that the film insinuates that what happens to her is okay because she planned for that eventuality, even though, it’s just gotten through selling us the stagnation her desire for revenge has seemingly brought to her life.
Watched on 18th April 2021