Promising Young Woman

Promising Young Woman
Starring Carey Mulligan, Bo Burnham, Alison Brie, Connie Britton
Directed by Emerald Fennell

On January 18, 2015, at Stanford University, Brock Turner sexually assaulted a woman who was unconscious on campus, and was subsequently arrested.  He received five charges including rape, felonious assault, and attempted rape, and was found guilty of three charges of felonious sexual assault and sentenced to six months in jail with three years probation, but was released after only serving three months, as many people still said he was a "promising young man."  The outrage of this case - along with the likes of Harvey Weinstein - led to the founding of the #MeToo movement, and the title some people gave Turner as a "promising young man" led first-time writer/director Emerald Fennell to title her revenge film "Promising Young Woman" to show the strength that a woman has to combat not just the men who wronged her, but the injustice system that allows men like Turner to walk away nearly scot-free.

Cassie Thomas (Carey Mulligan) was once an aspiring doctor, attending a prestigious university ran by Dean Elizabeth Walker (Connie Britton), and had a best friend in Nina, but all that was taken away one fateful night when Nina was drunk and unconscious, and was sexually abused by frat guy Al (Chris Lowell) and his friends, resulting in no one believing Nina's story as the two of them dropped out of school, and the event scarred both girls for life. 

Cassie never got over what they did to Nina, and the system that allowed it to happen, and spent the next few years working in a coffee shop by day and hitting the bars at night under the guise of being a drunken easy lay for creeps who preyed on them.  They would think she was too drunk to know what's happening and take her home, only to have her reveal herself to them before they did anything sexual to her, showing them that they indeed weren't very nice guys.

One day fellow student Ryan Cooper (Bo Burnham) comes into the coffee shop, and professes that he's has a crush on Cassie since college.  Reluctant, she agrees to go on a few dates with him but doesn't allow him to get too close, all the while gleaning information from him about their fellow classmates.  This reunites her with former friend Madison (Allison Brie) who also forgot Nina's name and confesses to Cassie that she really didn't believe Nina's story, resulting in Cassie hatching a plan to get revenge on everyone who wronged Nina - Madison, Dean Walker, Jordan (Alfred Molina) the lawyer who forced Nina to drop the charges, and ultimately Al himself. 

There's been some fantastic revenge films as of late, including "Hard Candy" and "Revenge," and "Promising Young Woman" has now been added to that list.  First time writer and director Emerald Fennell went out to make a revenge film different from all the others, one that wasn't reliant heavily on gore or violence but rather something more grounded in reality, both in execution and the trauma that the victim felt.  In an odd twist, the film doesn't even focus on the actual victim, but her best friend instead, whose only goal in life is to remember Nina's name and expose men for the pigs that they are - a character that's weak yet powerful; living in the past and never allowing herself to fully mature into an actual woman, but being stuck as a girl whose only goal in life is vengeance. 

The tone of the film shifts from moment to moment, never relenting on any one aspect.  One minute it's a dark comedy, the next a deep-seeded thriller, then a romantic comedy, before becoming a psychological headcase drama.  In a sense this should be a detriment to the film since it doesn't seem to find its footing, but this is the brilliance of Fennell's writing: it's not supposed to have a footing.  Instead it sheds real light on pain trauma victims (and their friends) endure not just from the moment, but day-to-day.  Cassie is a deeply flawed character but someone we root for, a woman who is one moment self-assured, confident, and has a plan when her backup plan fails, and the next she's a crying mess staring at pictures of her and Nina as children or loosing control on a male motorist.  You never know where the story is going to go, and that's the pure brilliance of it.

This type of risk can only be accomplished by top-notch work behind and in front of the camera, and thankfully both work in perfect tandem.  Emerald Fennell not only provided the well-thought-out script, but also directed the film in a way that honors those traumatized while also showing their continual vulnerability.  We hear the excuses in the film like we do in real life - "we were just kids," "they put themselves in danger, girls like that," "I'm not the only one who didn't believe it," "what would you have me do, ruin a young man's life?"  "I have to give him the benefit of the doubt," "it's every guy's worst nightmare, getting accused like that."  Every sentence is a gut punch not just for Cassie, but for the audience, and especially for those who've been through sexual abuse in real life - because they've heard it all as well.  The film also takes some incredibly daring twists and turns especially in the final act, where typically we'd expect one thing to happen but something totally unexpected occurs, and then something even more...more...unexpected happens that leaves us with deeper questions and thoughts at the end than we would have otherwise.  While at first I was nearly outraged by it, after pondering more, I realized what a spectacular finish the film really was.

The talent in front of the camera is a venerable who's who of talent, with fantastic supporting roles by the likes of Allison Brie, Connie Britton, Jennifer Coolidge, Clancy Brown, Laverine Cox, Chris Lowell, Adam Brody, Max Greenfield, Chrisopher Mintz-Plasse, Alfred Molina and Molly Shannon, all of whom give it their all in their respectively small yet powerful roles.  Bo Burnham has been proving time and again to be a force to be reckoned with and more than just a stand-up comic from his directorial debut masterpiece "Eighth Grade" to the role of Ryan Cooper, who serves as both a grounding devise for Cassie but also a launchpad for her final confrontation.

Yet the film rises and falls on Carey Mulligan, who's an established, Oscar-nominated actress with a strong pedigree of performances under her belt.  Here she practically melts into the character of Cassie where we forget the actress and just witness Cassie's volcanic personality.  One minute she's a self-assured femme fatale who preys on dirty men, and the next she's wallowing in self-pity and despair over not getting over the events of Nina's tragic life.  I've never been a victim of sexual abuse, but from the comments I've been reading about this film, Cassie's personality is practically synonymous with those who endured those tortures.  It's insane to watch, and Mulligan again delivers in what's easily her best role to date.

Filled with tremendous performances and a writer/director who worked hard to provide a story that's easily relatable, "Promising Young Woman" rises above other revenge films in the sense that it really sheds light on the victim and their tumultuous life after the event and the corrupt and downright immoral justice system that continues to do them wrong.

The Score: A+