A Stiletto in the Back
- Promising Young Woman review by CH
In recent weeks there has been as much publicity for Promising Young Woman as Blake Bailey's huge biography of Philip Roth. And in the past couple of days, the latter has taken a twist, its distribution halted by the publisher amidst allegations that the author is as prone to the forced seductions favoured by his subject.
Which is the very material of Emerald Fennell's first film. To have read or - scanned through – articles, one soon learnt that, in revenge for a friend being raped, Carey Mulligan exchanges a quiet daytime life behind a coffee bar for one of dressing provocatively and affecting drunkenness during a night on the town where she picks up men, and at the moment they are about to take the plunge, she reveals all (as it were): it is as though Philip Roth were kicked in the balls, even - one might infer - killed.
Having read of this, one might fear that the film itself could prove repetitive – one incident the same as another. The twist in all this is that it proves to be ingeniously varied. Without giving away too much, there is a moment when it appears about to mutate – happily ever after - into a romantic comedy.
The other surprise is that it turns out to be set in America, which makes sense: the country's turbulence is at the heart (if that's the word) of events here, although, of course, such self-styled lotharios populate the planet. It is a dark film, literally so, its colours, often red, suggest a well-nigh subterranean world of displaced morals: the work of cinematographer Benjamin Kracon while, for my taste, the music (the score by Anthony Willis and the use of songs by Britney Spears among others) is mixed rather too much to the fore of a story which is strong enough to carry itself.
Not only Carey Mulligan but many of the other women (of all ages) give terrific performances; by contrast, most of the men, such as potential boyfriend Bo Burnham, appear to have strayed from bachelor-party territory – then again, that is perhaps the point. For all its being rooted in terrible reality, it has appeared to some as unlikely; in fact, it should be regarded as Jacobean, a period when plays took many a savage turn while shifts in mood could include comedy (the Gravedigger being the most obvious). And in that spirit, five centuries on, Emerald Fennell worked swiftly, filming this in three weeks. As a début, it has the brio of Truffaut's one – and brings to mind one which nobody has mentioned: Richard Gere's. He was in the very good film made from Judith Rossner's brilliant novel Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977), whose singles-bar terrain is the mirror-image of all this.
7 out of 10 members found this review helpful.
Feminist revenge-tale with lots of punches
- Promising Young Woman review by PD
This very watchable piece starts as a straightforward revenge tale, but director Emerald Fennell has an awful lot of tricks up her sleeve, exploring Cassandra’s vigilante campaign from different angles, such as her relationship with her parents, who've all but given up on her, and what happens when, in the midst of a non-too subtle tale of 'all men are bastards', one of her targets shows genuine remorse for what he’s done, or, even more poignantly, when Cassandra meets a man she actually likes. Shifting tones keep us going despite the various plot implausibilities (and there are rather too many of these for comfort), and also of interest is the fact that Cassandra is not simply a righteous avenger.
The fact that a film with such disturbing elements is so accessible is a testimony to the cleverness of the writing, and it's a plain as day that questions over 'rape culture' deserves some serious treatment - the film works very hard at making us think: consent, or lack thereof, is obviously foregrounded, but academia’s leniency toward male students accused of rape and assault is another important one. One of the film’s most provocative if rather under-explored elements is its interrogation of alcohol and the role it plays in consent; Cassandra hates men who victimize drunk women, but isn’t above drugging a drink if it’ll assist in her mission. Meanwhile, Carey Mulligan successfully portrays plays Cassie as a woman who’s been robbed of joy, leaving her exhausted and distrustful.
Unfortunately, there's quite a few weaker elements which rob the film of some of its potential power. To begin with, a lot of the psychology portrayed here remains on the highly superficial side. Cassie’s motivations are questionable - she coaxes out men's worst impulses to prove to herself, and to us, that all men are terrible, and the film's conclusion—not only are men just as bad as you always thought they were, they’re worse—is an all-too easy one to reach, not a hard one. And whilst we're invited to be her accomplice there's some highly questionable tactics - in one particularly strange sequence, Cassie lures a teenage girl into her car for what looks to be a nefarious purpose, and whilst Fennell resolves the episode in a jaunty way—not even Cassie would go that far— the scene still leaves a bad taste, flirting disturbingly with the idea that it’s fine to corrupt innocent girls as long as the goal is to punish bad men. At times this laudably feminist manifesto (women are indeed angry for good reasons) rather undermines itself by being overly cynical without being particularly perceptive. So all in all a film which has a lot of punches but doesn't always land them all effectively.
5 out of 8 members found this review helpful.
Bland drama of talking heads
- Promising Young Woman review by Alphaville
A Sky-backed visually-impaired film for the small-screen generation, more a play than a film. Expect long drawn-out dialogue scenes of talking heads. Any good reviews it has received all talk about the concept, as if it’s conceptual art, where lack of skill in execution is irrelevant. The concept, to attract punters, is a feminist revenge thriller. Thrills? If only. The trailer uses fast edits and exciting music to lure you in. Don’t be fooled.
Naturally all the men are stupid, sexist and pitiable, ripe to be put in their place. On its own the script has some good dialogue and might work on stage, but anyone who loves a good movie is in for a long haul to get through this. Something does happen near the end. Ho-hum.
As with her last film, the equally staid Vita and Virginia, director Emerald Fennell has no idea what to do with a camera so just plonks it down and wrings the life out of every scene. She should stick to writing. To see how to make an enthralling feminist film with real characters and big-screen skill, check out Mimi Leder’s On the Basis of Sex.
4 out of 11 members found this review helpful.
Brilliant
- Promising Young Woman review by PR
Fabulous film, absolutely gripping, thought-provoking, interesting. Carey Mulligan is superb, as always (she's SUCH an electrifying presence). Highly, highly recommended. Also the soundtrack is excellent.
1 out of 2 members found this review helpful.
Interesting
- Promising Young Woman review by cr
This film really is food for thought as to how men treat drunk and vunerable women. As with all victim culture for women the woman herself is at fault for putting herself in a vunerable situation not the males who take advantage of her although they are the predators. A fine performance from carey mulligan and a twist ending insures it remains in your mind for a long time.
1 out of 4 members found this review helpful.
An edgy psychological thriller
- Promising Young Woman review by BG
With most of Carey Mulligan's films, the main reason to watch them is the talent of the lead actress herself, whose lead role in 'An Education' marked her as an astonishing performer of huge intensity and range. Here, it feels like she is the magnetic core of a very powerful team, as Emerald Fennell has crafted a film as enigmatic and dynamic as its lead actress.
Mulligan's 'Cassandra' is an enigma - even her loving parents (Jennifer Coolidge and Clancy Brown) can't get a handle on what she's doing with her life. Evasive, unambitious, Cassandra dropped out of a hugely promising career as a trainee doctor (hence the title) after an unspecified tragedy, and now seems perfectly content to while away her days working in her friend's coffee shop and vanishing to who-knows-where at night.
In reality, she's entered into a strange and dangerous life of laying honey-traps at bars for predatory men; pretending to be too drunk to stand, and then seeing which "nice guy" will come to her rescue in order to take advantage of a drunk woman - at which point they'll get an unwelcome surprise...
Into this unhealthy and mysterious cycle comes Bo Burnham's brilliantly played character 'Ryan' - an old med-school friend perplexed by her seeming downfall from potential medical superstar to coffee-shop worker, but harbouring a crush, and captivated by Cassandra's personality. As he faces an uphill battle to get past her hard shell of cynicism and get to know her, a chance remark about a third-party sets Cassandra's fate on a new path.
I won't say anything else about the plot, as Promising Young Woman is a movie about a specific mystery and its dramatic and damaging fallout just as much as it's about what happens as Cassandra tries to show the self-described "nice guys" who try to take advantage of her that they're really not that nice after all.
It's a brilliantly written movie, with every scene telling you more about the brilliantly played Cassandra. Mulligan is a true star-wattage performer in this role, holding the movie in the palm of her hand throughout, as she portrays a character who doesn't often pander to being 'likeable' but is always interesting, exciting or fascinating. The movie isn't afraid to surprise either, throwing in heavy doses of wry adult humour. Burnham is an incredibly likeable co-star for Mulligan's cynical Cassandra to spark off, and they have many excellent scenes together which flesh out her character and also add playfulness to the taut script (a scene in a pharmacy making use of Paris Hilton's only significant music single is particularly silly and amusing). This lightness of touch is necessary because the script goes to some very tough places. In addition to tense encounters with a handful of men, Fennell's script surprisingly holds other women equally to account for excusing or enabling appalling behaviour, reserving some of her most startling scenes for them. It's a movie that manages to convey the emotional beats of a murder mystery (anger, fury, grief) alongside the character development aspects of fallout, devastation and hope, alongside whip-smart intellect and humour. It's a miraculous achievement in writing and performing.
All of the performers are on their A-game, the dialogue is a treat (Cassandra feels like she's channelling the disappointment and rage of generations of women when a man exclaims: "We were young!" and Cassandra seethes: "If I hear that one more time...") and the plot events are built on character and nuance, making them land like prize-fight belters when they come slugging in from the side.
It's funny, dangerous, spiky, unexpected, challenging and full of the kind of brilliance that makes you hope the director has something similarly extraordinary in the pipeline.
I, for one, can't wait.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.
Brilliantly subversive
- Promising Young Woman review by Champ
If #MeToo has led to movies like this, then bravo. This film takes standard genre tropes and twists them enough to draw you in, and keep you guessing. No one is let off the hook, either - if you're not part of the solution, then you're definitely part of the problem.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.
Superb Satirical Drama
- Promising Young Woman review by GI
A dark, provocative and yet playful satirical drama that has a rape/revenge narrative on the surface and an emotional crisis theme going much deeper. It follows the life of Cassie (Carey Mulligan), a medical school drop out, clearly highly intelligent and yet now works in a small coffee shop. She's a thirty year old still living with her parents and has a rather cynical view of life in general. At night she dresses up, goes to bars and pretends to be very drunk enticing men to pick her up and attempt to sexual assault her while she's incapacitated. She keeps a detailed record of each time. Her icy and very much sober confrontation of them usually has the desired affect (although a colour code in her records hints that not all of these incidents goes well). Cassie's motives stem from an incident in the past which is revealed when she meets a former college friend Ryan and she carefully plans to confront others who are part the cause of her trauma. Mulligan is exceptional here as an avenger who is unconcerned with any level of fairness, she is out to expose and will go to great lengths to do so and her performance is well crafted as Cassie occasionally loses control of the situation. It's a tour de force piece of film acting. Some of this film will have you on the edge of your seat as it brilliantly never reveals exactly how any of the confrontations will play out. A film that defies expectations and very much one that you should check out.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.
Thriller/Black Comedy Gem
- Promising Young Woman review by EP
I really enjoyed this film, it started as a rather serious film around a dark theme, it moves towards a love story, then malice/revenge and ultimately tragic but comedy ending.
I watched it twice, great acting by Mulligan and the supporting cast.
Also quite a lot clever snappy dialogue to enjoy.
The soundtrack is great and the director used certain music and sounds to heighten some moments.
Brilliantly filmed.
Really original film and a future classic.
Ed
1 out of 2 members found this review helpful.
Entertaining but flawed
- Promising Young Woman review by MM
This is a well-acted and thought-provoking film that I enjoyed watching. The problem is that the blatant #MeToo agenda-pushing rather gets in the way of the plot. Carey Mulligan plays a young woman who feigns drunkenness in clubs in order to get picked up by exploitative men, after which she punishes them by... what? Killing them? Cutting off their balls and keeping them in jars in her basement? No, she just reveals she's not really drunk, gives them a stern talking to, and leaves. Are we supposed to believe that of all the hundreds of men she's humiliated in this way, not one of them has turned out to be genuinely violent or dangerous? That would seem to be a significant risk, but for all her "wicked smartness", Cassie seems to take no precautions against this possibility, or have any self-defence skills to speak of. On the one occasion where she does try to get physical, it ends very badly for her.
This had the beginnings of a great plot — a slightly less fanciful Kill Bill, or a female version of The Crow. But it seems that the writers were reluctant to make their hero too much of a femme fatale, because it would get in the way of the idea that women are morally pure and innocent. The result is a film which feels like it's constantly leading towards a satisfying payoff which never actually arrives. The message seems to be: all men are bastards, but not such bastards that they won't be stopped in their tracks by a ticking off from a strong and independent woman. I'm pretty sure real life doesn't work like that.
1 out of 2 members found this review helpful.