REVIEW - 'Promising Young Woman' (2020)

Admit it: there’s something cathartic about watching vengeance in films—an almost-unexplainable satisfaction seeing the protagonists finally get the upper hand and vanquish their tormentors through months and years of careful planning and clinical execution.

But as in most cases, the feeling wears off quickly just as soon as the credits start rolling. In the end, one thing’s for certain: while our sensations were served, our emotions weren’t. It takes a good film with a delicate sensibility to make the audience invest not only in the protagonists’ wrath but also in their fragile psyche.

Enter “Promising Young Woman,” Emerald Fennell’s wildly entertaining directorial debut and starring Carey Mulligan in easily her best performance since “Shame.”

Vengeance is a Dish Best Served Cold

The movie opens with three men in a bar ogling an extremely intoxicated woman (Mulligan) who couldn’t find her phone to hail a cab to take her home. One of the men nicely offers to accompany her home, but later on tells the driver to drop them at his apartment instead. As the audience we immediately know where this is headed…until we don’t. The woman suddenly regains sobriety just as the man begins to force his way on her. You can just imagine the horrified look on the man’s face when he’s caught red-handed about to rape a drunk woman.

Here’s the thing, though: it turns out, this woman—Cassie—has an agenda of her own. She goes to different clubs every weekend and feigns intoxication, knowing that some ‘nice guy’ would always check on her if she’s alright. This same guy would then take advantage of the situation, before she chastises them about their behavior. Effectively scarring these men (and deservedly so), Cassie goes home and writes their names in a notebook.

Carey Mulligan and Bo Burnham in a scene from “Promising Young Woman” (Focus Features, 2020).

While this looks like someone forging a dark path, Cassie’s daily routine is a complete 180°: at 30, she still lives with her parents (much to their chagrin), works at a coffee shop despite being qualified for a higher-paying job, and openly parties hard at night. On the surface, there’s nothing wrong with a 30-year-old still living with her parents, until we take a closer look.

Before we even begin to ask about her motive, Fennell clues us in on past experiences that scarred the hell out of this woman. Just with contextualization, we find out how Cassie’s life turned upside down when something happened to her best friend Nina back in medical school, which prompted both of them to drop out. Blaming herself for not being able to be there for Nina, Cassie wreaks havoc in her own twisted way by confronting random men who sexually assault drunk women who are still conscious but completely powerless to say no.

It would take a chance encounter with a former classmate in med school, Ryan (Bo Burnham), for Cassie to realize the futility of her personal vendetta. And even then, she had already exacted vengeance upon those whom she believes had a direct hand in the aftermath of Nina’s ordeal (Alfred Molina’s brief role here just shines tenfold). Just when Cassie thought she could finally move on with Ryan, one of those people upon whom she inflicted revenge (Alison Brie) provides her with a critical information that would set her ablaze and resume her avenging ways.

If You Seek Revenge, Then Dig Two Graves

Mulligan in “Promising Young Woman”

Granted, there’s a feeling of gratification once the vengeance has been completed on-screen, especially when the characters deserve it. But with it also comes the safety net most revenge films use: emphasizing too much on the style and too little on the substance. You see, this sub-genre is deeply rooted in exploitation, so it’s no surprise when filmmakers resort to ‘creative’ and sometimes even protracted ways the protagonist could exact her revenge. Unfortunately, in the process, the viewers’ sensation becomes king, and the movie’s soul simply dissipates.

More importantly, the most critical question is often left unanswered: You’ve succeeded, sure; but at what cost?

Interestingly, Fennell presents “Promising Young Woman” by answering this question first, before showing its protagonist how to do vengeance right.

Only great revenge films manage to avoid the pitfalls of over-focusing on satiating the audience’s senses with lurid and intricate details at the expense of examining the emotional and mental toll avenging has given the protagonist. And this is where Fennell’s taut screenplay and sensitive direction come into play. We don’t see the first act typically seen in these kinds of films, in that we don’t know what terrible thing happened in the past that set the wheels in motion for Cassie to take revenge against the people who have wronged her. Instead, we are introduced to a Cassie at her prime, feigning drunkenness each weekend and waiting for concerned men to take her home and take advantage of her situation. These men—usually who society deems the ‘nice guys’—would freeze once she drops the act.

By the time the film’s final act unfolds we just know that, while Cassie’s audacity to get even with those people looks and feels refreshing, Cassie herself stopped living seven years ago. She might have accomplished her ultimate goal—but in the process, she might have lost her soul.

A Stirring Commentary on Sexual Assault

“Promising Young Woman” is a skillful analysis of trauma and sexual assault.

Almost everything about “Promising Young Woman” feels like a homage to B-movies, from the aesthetics to the choices of music used throughout. But what’s more interesting here is that these same elements free the film from being tied to a specific era. Sure, there are references to the early days of social media and keypad smartphones contrasted with Cassie’s box-type car; but the story the movie tells packs a sense of urgency that’s both timely and timeless.

And that’s the disconcerting reality the film tackles. Fennell conceived the idea for this film back in 2017; and for all intents and purposes, this is her middle finger to the broken justice system of school administrations and their failure to adequately deal with cases of sexual assault on campus grounds. But what’s important to note here is that Fennell neither lionizes nor criticizes those who decide to put justice in their own hands. And with Mulligan turning in her Oscar-worthy performance, we get to see a multilayered character on-screen whose damaged psyche is just as important—if not more—as her desire for retribution.

“Promising Young Woman” deftly subverts the genre conventions of a revenge film by focusing on the strains caused by the journey as much as the ultimate payoff. And with Carey Mulligan’s central performance leading the way, the result is a movie that’s smart, confidently paced, and just plain wicked fun—and the perfect calling card for writer-director Emerald Fennell.

*As of January 15th, “Promising Young Women” can be rented via streaming on Amazon Prime, iTunes, GooglePlay, Vudu, FandangoNow, or other platforms.