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When three average guys walk into a bar and notice a woman who appears to be extremely intoxicated, falling over in her seat and barely able to keep her head up, they intervene. When they see her walking away, one of them, Adam Brody, approaches her with what he believes to be the best of intentions. She’s in a lot of trouble. He’s a “nice guy,” as they say. A bad guy may do something horrible to the girl if he doesn’t get her home safely on the first try. Of course, this is something he would never do. To that end, he introduces himself to Cassie (Carey Mulligan), who is clearly too drunk to comprehend what is going on around her. He also suggests that they go to his apartment first, which he does as he assists her with her return home. Despite the fact that she is barely conscious, he begins kissing her and then walks over to the bed. And it is at this point that he realizes that not only is she not drunk, but he is also not a particularly nice guy.
Cassie, the heroine of Emerald Fennell’s ambitious debut novel “Promising Young Woman,” has a unique interest outside of writing. In spite of having dropped out of medical school several years ago as a result of an unknown trauma involving her best friend Nina, she now works at a coffee shop and lures men into admitting that their own perception of their moral code is a form of denial at night in exchange for money. Nina’s story is revealed slowly in “Promising Young Woman,” but it’s clear that she was a victim of more than one privileged man, and that she was a victim of a system that protected the criminal over the accuser in her case. With each shitty guy she encounters, Cassie attempts to demolish the system in which she finds herself.
Cassie is forced to rethink her strategy as a result of two events. First and foremost, she re-connects with an old classmate named Ryan (Bo Burnham), with whom she begins a romantic relationship. Fortunately, Fennell does not rush their courtship, which makes it seem more genuine and believable that Cassie would let her guard down for the first time in a long while. Burnham and Mulligan have good chemistry, and Fennell does not rush their courtship. Ryan, on the other hand, reveals that the man who sent Cassie on her downward spiral of grief and trauma has returned to the United States after spending time in the United Kingdom. It is this that propels Cassie to the conclusion of her lessons on male privilege and moral authority, and she finally pursues the individuals who were responsible for the death of her best friend.
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This is a tonal roller coaster, but that is part of the point of “Promising Young Woman.” Stress can cause mood swings and poor decision-making, so Mulligan and Fennel never forget that Cassie is a traumatized person who is taking her pain out on the patriarchal system that allowed it to happen in the first place. It’s a film about a woman who is on a quest for catharsis, but who will never be able to find it. See how many names are written in the notebook where she keeps track of the men she’s instructed. There are dozens of them. In addition, there is a sense that even going directly to the people who have caused this pain will only get you so far, which is then heightened by an intense final act. When it seemed like there was nothing that could possibly satisfy Cassie’s emotional arc, I had the impression that Fennell had written herself into a corner. But she pushes right through that corner with a final act that will divide audiences but that the more I think about it, the more I admire for its audacity.
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There are times when it appears that Fennell has taken on a bit more than the average first-time writer/director, but I’ll take a young filmmaker who takes risks over one who plays it safe any day. And I’d like someone to make a movie that doesn’t rely solely on trauma as an emotional manipulation tool or puts women in danger as a cheap writing ploy. “Promising Young Woman” is a film that is as self-assured as its lead character, a film that is willing to be a little messy and inconsistent in a way that reflects Cassie’s own existence. But every day is filled with the reminder of what she’s lost, despite the fact that she works in a coffee shop and has supportive parents. She spends her evenings looking through old photographs of her best friend when they were younger. Trauma and overriding grief are frequently depicted on screen as clean, neat character traits, but I believe that the tonal whiplash of “PYW” captures something about the inconsistency of these issues better than most films even attempt to do. However, even though Cassie is brilliant and beautiful, she can’t seem to stop herself from fighting back against systems that protect evil men in whatever way she can, even if doing so means being imprisoned in a box she created for herself.
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What’s funny is that all of this makes “Promising Young Woman” sound a lot more intense than it actually is, which is ironic. This film contains a lot of dark humor, which is to be expected from the showrunner of “Killing Eve” season two, as well as a portion of it that is genuinely compelling as a relationship drama. Burnham proves that he is capable of carrying a film of this caliber, holding his own against Mulligan and turning in a wicked lip sync performance to a pop music classic. Mulligan, on the other hand, continues to be spectacular. She is almost always in this state. ‘Cassie’ is a particularly difficult role, the kind that would have prevented other actresses from pushing into camp and the kind of balancing act that will be underappreciated by audiences.
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In the light of the following day, many of the issues I had with “Promising Young Woman” now seem to me to be assets rather than flaws. I’m not sure the ending is satisfactory, and some of the tonal shifts could have been smoother, but there’s a lot of material to unpack and discuss in this film. Even at Sundance, a large number of films fade from memory as they make their way to the next screening. This one, however, is not one of them. Not for a long time, at least.
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This review was submitted as part of the Sundance Film Festival in 2020.
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