Why ‘Promising Young Woman’ Deserves To Rule the Oscars but Won’t (and Why that’s a Good Thing)


As the Oscars approach tonight, many are placing our bets on our favorite films of 2020 and early 2021. However, as much as I love “Promising Young Woman”—and as much as it deserves to win in all of the categories it was nominated for (‘Best Picture’ ‘Best Actress,’ Carey Mulligan, ‘Best Director,’ Emerald Fennell, ‘Best Original Screenplay,’ Emerald Fennell, and ‘Best Film Editing,’ Frederic Thoraval—I am going to delve into why I’m placing my bets against this wonderful and important film. 

Warning: the following article contains spoilers. If you don’t want important details given away before you see the film, please stop reading immediately, see the film, and then come back and read this.

7 reasons why…

– It’s an anti-establishment film. It questions the sustainability of the usual institutions that enable men to behave badly. These include Hollywood, colleges and universities, and our legal system.

– The makers of “Promising Young Woman” really don’t care about pleasing you. They want you to know that the things men do to women without their consent are more common than we’d like to believe. They’re also unacceptable and illegal.

– It makes predatory men feel uncomfortable by giving them a taste of their own medicine. Our protagonist, Cassie (Carey Mulligan), is about righting the wrongs of the bad behavior that led to her best friend, Nina, committing suicide. She lures men in by pretending to be dumb and drunk. Once their guard is down, she jolts them into reality by being stone-cold sober. This unnerves these men so much that they whimper and tell her to leave or they run away. It’s pretty hilarious.

– Rumors say that a lot of people, especially men, would’ve preferred Margot Robbie in the role of Cassie.  I assume this was for her status as a sex symbol. Don’t get me wrong… Margot Robbie is a fantastic actor. I loved her in “I, Tonya;” however, I think we would’ve been distracted by her sex appeal and those crazed eyes she can get that look like she wants to eat you and all of your children.

Carey Mulligan is perfect in the role. She breezes through the film as light as a feather and commands every scene she’s in. I especially love how she enunciates her words and pauses; her voice so casual. Everything is fraught with meaning;  her words hit people like a sledgehammer.

– The film questions the blame of others lower on the food chain (loved ones, friends, classmates) who foster bad behavior. It grabs them by the scruff of the neck and forces them examine to their own apathy and spinelessness. Sometimes it hurts the victim more when the people who are the closest to her (and who are supposed to stand by her and help protect her) fail to do so because of their own selfishness.

– “Promising Young Woman” reminds us of the fact that nothing is more important than protecting women from bad behavior. After all, they are our mothers, daughters, wives, granddaughters…

– And finally, the film gives a moment of silence to victims of sexual harassment, assault, and rape. When Cassie discovers that there is a recorded version of Nina’s rape, we, along with her, mourn for her friend and all of the women who’ve suffered from such traumatic experiences.

Protection of patriarchy at all costs?

In Hollywood, when allegations of abuse arose against those awful producers, celebrities had the perfect chance to say that this was unacceptable and put their money where their mouth is by taking their money out of these production companies and putting them into other companies or starting their own. However, they made a conscious decision to put profits over people—notably survivors of abuse. Therefore, they deserve to fail and should continue to fail as they rip each other apart.

Both Hollywood and “Promising Young Woman” have a very different set of values; this is likely why the film won’t win and why that’s a good thing. The film believes that we should band together to take down these institutions that foster bad behavior. The defense attorney, Jordan (brilliantly played by Alfred Molina), who bullied Nina into dropping her case against his client, Alexander Monroe (Chris Lowell) years ago, works with the cops to see that he and his horrible friends are held accountable. After all, in a world where we’re always finding the money to hurt people instead of help them, why not for once, choose the latter?