Promising Young Woman is a bitter take-down of rape culture.
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The premise of Promising Young Woman was going to get attention regardless of its quality. With discussions of sexual assault and harassment in the forefront of American culture, a movie advertised as a woman taking revenge against date rapists is discussion worthy. Especially if said movie isn't quite as advertised...
The Setup
Carey Mulligan plays Cassie Thomas, a 30 year-old medical school dropout who's living at home with her parents and working at a local coffee shop. At night, Cassie does something very different. She pretends to be drunk and confronts men who take her home. But when Cassie learns that a rapist who assaulted her now deceased best friend is both back in the country and back in town, she decides to take all responsible parties to task.
I'm going to divide my review into two sections. One for those who haven't seen the film, and one for those that have. I'll make it pretty clear when the shift is about to happen, so no worries about accidentally going too far.
Non-Spoiler Edition
Promising Young Woman is a superbly-made movie. Every aspect of it from the acting, the casting, the scripting, and direction are all working together towards a common goal. It's also not what everyone's going to expect. I think a lot of people expected this to be some violent vigilante stuff with Mulligan doling out retribution on every creep that makes a pass at her. But that's not what this movie is, or what's it's about.
What's it really about is how one sexual assault can destroy many lives, and responsible parties inability to hold themselves accountable. All of which is viewed through Cassie's life and lens.
Cassie's life is purposely stagnant. She works a dead-end job with little to no responsibilities with a friend she trusts. She's still living at home. And she's resistant to the advances of a former med-school classmate. Partially because she wants to carry out her night missions against creepy men, and also because she's not over what happened to her friend Nina (whom we find out was assaulted and then took her own life).
She has no reason to trust anyone, especially men. The film hammers this idea home by casting all of Cassie's date rapists as agreeable comedic actors including folks like Adam Brody and McLovin himself Christopher Mintz-Plasse (and yes they revealed this is intentional). The message is clear. Anyone could be a rapist.
While that's terrifying on its own, the movie digs deeper by showing what happens when these men are confronted. In short, they're irresponsible cowards. The first reaction is always fear. Then denial. Then a justification. If it was in the past this is when they talk about being a kid when it happened. And then anger. It lays out everything that people when these accusations happen, made all the worst because they're being accused in the moment.
But Carey Mulligan's Cassie isn't having any of it. And holy hell her performance in this movie. This is the kind of performance that forever changes how you see an actor. Not just because it's the total of opposite of roles like Daisy Buchanan or Irene in Drive, but because of how confidently acerbic her character is. The film's opening credits follow her as she stares down cat-calling construction workers to the point that they get uncomfortable and you immediately understand why. It's the thick skin and aggression of someone who's had their innocence and joy forcibly removed. It never fully cracks, but scenes where Mulligan has to cry while restraining her emotions show us how deep the damage has gone.
It's a major credit to writer/director Emerald Fennell and Mulligan that this character is so easy to empathize with, and often easy to laugh with. There's a terrifying satisfaction in watching Cassie take people to task. Speaking of Fennell, I love how she directed this movie.
Considering the subject matter, you might expect a lot of awful and dreary imagery. Thankfully that's not the case. Almost all of the violence occurs off-screen and we're either left with reactions or descriptions of what happened, which is all you truly need to get the point across. For forever. Seriously directors for forever.
Likewise, the movie flips the script on the shadowy visuals of most modern thrillers for a bright color palette. It's a visual style that highlights the film's B-movie premise and makes the differences, i.e. what Cassie does or doesn't do, stand out.
Most of my complaints are minor. The ending feels a touch rushed and there's a few scenes that arguably tip the movie's hand too early, but overall this is an impressive piece of filmmaking from top to bottom.
For reasons this movie may not work for people...we're going to have get into spoilers.
*The Spoiler-Filled Discussion*
The bits I've heard against this movie come from two directions. Either they feel misled by the marketing which advertised a vigilante B-movie or they think Cassie's actions in the film are anti-feminist or the film is anti-feminist. In both cases I think there's thoughtful rebuttals.
Let's start with the advertising. Consciously or not, Promising Young Woman plays like a response and offshoot from the "Rape Revenge" styled thriller which grew to popularity in the seventies and eighties with films like I Spit on Your Grave or Ms. 45. For those unfamiliar, the film usually featured the horrifying on-screen assault of young woman followed by the young woman or her loved one's violent retribution. The genre has been rightly, in my opinion, critiqued for being inherently flawed, both because the films show the assault from start to finish often with an emphasis on the young woman's body and because the solution/message is fixing violence with more violence. There have been attempts to take this genre back by female directors in the recent Revenge, but the flaws are pretty clear.
And visually and via advertising, Promising Young Woman matches this format with its bright colors and vigilante hero. But I'd argue this is an intentional misdirect. Because Cassie's vision of vengeance or vigilantism is rarely physical violence. She wants to challenge these people to admit wrong-doing or get a wake up call to be a better person. And if they are remorseful she's inclined to accept it. Indirectly its arguing that more violence isn't a proper solution.
Which brings us to the "anti-feminist" argument. As part of her vengeance, Cassie puts two women she believes are responsible for Nina's death and treatment through the ringer. The first is a former med-school peer Madison who Nina went to for help after her assault. Based on the conversations, it sounds like Nina was victim-blamed by Madison, who blamed her for getting too drunk around a bunch of guys, and took the men's side. When Madison doesn't apologize, Cassie gets Madison drunk and has a male escort take her up to a hotel room and then doesn't call her back when Madison frantically tries to find out what happened. Cassie finally relents after she briefly abandons her quest and lets Madison know that nothing happened and the man in question simply looked after her and left before she woke. With her mind now at ease, Madison gives Cassie a missing piece of the puzzle she's been after for years.
Likewise, Cassie has a meeting with the former med school dean and informs her that her teenage daughter has been led to an on-campus party with a brunch of drunken boys. When the dean pleads for information, Cassie refuses until the dean admits what happened was wrong. At which point, Cassie reveals that the dean's daughter is fine and sitting in a nearby dinner waiting on her favorite boy band (who won't be coming).
In both cases I can see why this is upsetting. Cassie puts these women through intense psychological torment to get what she wants that is akin to what Nina and herself went through. Even if it's simulated, it is seriously messed-up and weaponizes patriarchy against said women. I'd also argue that that's the point.
The main point from these scenes isn't that Cassie is right. She's not. These are the actions of an insanely hurt person who wants someone to listen to/understand/acknowledge the pain they caused. She even views this as regrettable once she attempts to move on from Nina's death.
But Cassie and the movie's point, are the extremes it takes for people to admit their failures. Madison is happy to victim blame until she believes she's a victim and only reveals a piece of evidence that could have changed the entire care against Nina's rapist when she sees how it could have happened to her. The dean fires off familiar excuse after familiar excuse until finally breaking down and admitting: "It was wrong," is the only way to possibly save her daughter from young men she assumes are predators. And most importantly, both women do admit their failures.
Of the people that Cassie confronts, and there are a lot, only three demonstrate any remorse. The lawyer who represented Nina's rapist is broken before Cassie even arrives, and pleads for forgiveness. He remembers Nina's name and the case vividly. It's stuck with him like it stuck with Cassie. He doesn't need to be reminded or shown what he did was wrong. And Cassie forgives him. But for these two women, in Cassie's mind, they need a terrifying push to see the light...and it works.
This doesn't work for the men involved in the act itself. The pathways for men's involvement and actions are represented by Al, the rapist, and Cassie's love-interest Ryan (played to perfection by Bo Burnham).
Al, when confronted, is as bad as you'd expect. He goes through every possible denial, talks about how young he was, highlights who he is now as a demonstration of his morals, but most importantly and awfully...kills Cassie while attempting to silence her and then attempts to burn/bury the evidence. It's about as on the nose as metaphors get. And in the film's ultimate irony, if Al had admitted what he'd done, he might still have his life. Al demonstrates the lengths someone will go to keep their "name" in good standing and how everyone who aids and abets people like him can get taken down with him.
But Ryan might be the film's deepest critique. It's hard for people to see themselves in a rapist, especially one who goes on to murder someone. But Ryan is, by all appearances, nice. He's charming, funny, respects Cassie's boundaries, works as a pediatric surgeon, and generally comes across as a good guy. Which makes the reveal that he witnessed Nina's assault, and did nothing, feel like the ultimate betrayal. Not only that, but when Cassie challenges him...he does all the same things her attempted rapists do. Every single one. His self-preservation is stronger than his morality. He's not a rapist, but he's still part of the problem. Because he refuses to take responsibility or help until he's blackmailed.
That's the terror running through this film. Not just that assaults will happen on a daily basis and go unpunished. But the terrifying lengths people will go to to avoid a reckoning.
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