“Promising Young Woman” is written by and the directoral debut of Emerald Fennell (writer for Killing Eve) and stars Academy Award nominated actress Carey Mulligan (“Never Let Me Go” and “An Education”) as Cassie, a medical school drop out who, haunted by a tragedy in her past, goes out to bars every night and pretends to be blackout drunk to trick predatory men who want to take advantage of her. When she crosses paths with an old friend from medical school (played by stand-up comedian Bo Burnham), she gets the chance to get revenge on the people of her past once and for all.
Based on reactions I’ve seen online, the ending of this film is extremely divisive. Some say it’s awful and it ruins a what would be perfect film and some say that it’s amazing and a perfect conclusion to what we watched for the past two hours. I myself am 100% in the latter camp. Without giving away any spoilers, the ending definitely worked for me and I completely bought everything that happened based on what we’ve learned about Cassie before the end. That’s all I can really say without spoilers, but the ending is just as perfect as the rest of the film for me.
Emerald Fennell has one of hell of a directoral debut with this. This movie handles an extremely hot and sensitive topic while balancing so many different tones and Fennell pulls it off flawlessly. It’s a drama, a psychological thriller and a comedy all wrapped in one and although the comedy elements being in this could’ve been tone deaf considering the topic of the film, Fennell puts those elements in the perfect spot where it just fits. One scene where Mulligan is talking to her former Dean was one of the best scenes of the year. Absolutely chilling.
Fennell also does a fantastic job writing this. She knows the audience isn’t dumb and there are a lot of things that some writers would just flat out tell you, but instead she just hints at it and lets the audience figure it out for themselves which I appreciated a lot. The twists and turns in this are also perfectly crafted and each one is slowly but surely revealed leading to some jaw-dropping moments. Fennell shows each person that can be responsible for what happens during these types of situations. Some people are remorseful, while others are not so much and she does a great job showing every side of this.
Carey Mulligan downright delivers the best performance of the year (other than probably Chadwick Boseman in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom“). She really shows off her range as an actress throughout the entire thing. She has so much nuance in this role and is able to flip her attitude like that (I’m snapping here) in the middle of any scene. Her facial expressions are amazing and I really hope she can get some awards attention for this. The rest of the cast is great too especially Bo Burnham and Laverne Cox (Orange is the New Black), who plays Mulligan’s boss.
This movie also just has a really great vibe to it. The color pallet of this is like being in a candy store and I really dug that. Benjamin Kracun’s cinematography, Michael Perry’s (“It Follows”) production design, and especially Nancy Steiner’s (“Lost in Translation” and “Little Miss Sunshine”) costume design really add so much to the film. The soundtrack is also perfect and easily the best all year. The instrumental remix of Britney Spears’s “Toxic” that plays in the trailer and in the third act of this film is *chefs kiss*.
“Promising Young Woman” is easily one of the best films I’ve seen all year and is also just a really important movie that will leave you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. I really hope it gets a lot of attention this awards season.
Jordan Woodson's Reviews 