Promising Young Woman review: Promising Young Woman is not only the name of Emerald Fennell’s jet-black comedy/thriller, but it’s also an accurate summation of what audiences will be saying about the first-time filmmaker coming out of the film – a scintillating debut feature that is hilarious, sinister and of the utmost relevance in today’s #MeToo era.
Universal
Promising Young Woman review
We first meet Cassie (Carey Mulligan) in a club; she looks drunk to the point of passing out, as guys gawk at her stumbling about and bicker over which one of them is taking her home. Someone does – offering her a lift back but diverting to his own place instead. It’s here that he puts the moves on Cassie who is slurring her words and unable to get a sentence out. However, she snaps to sobriety as he begins feeling her up and a cruel fate awaits her confused assaulter. It’s no new situation for Cassie, who often spends her weekends preying on jackass men that victimise girls in intoxicated states in a similar manner – on a cathartic mission to avenge her late-friend, ridding the world of its ill-minded men.
Despite its candy-coloured veneer (opening to Charli XCX and coated with a lot of pink), there’s an unnerving darkness behind Promising Young Woman; this much is made apparent from the swift tonal change from the buoyancy of the nightclub to discomforting as Cassie is on the verge to becoming a rape victim to bone-shakingly sinister when she turns the tables on her assaulter (in a moment that induced many gasps from our sold-out audience)… and all this before the title card drops. Fennell walks the tonal tightrope like a skilled gymnast – going from comedy to eeriness in a matter of seconds and never having it feel jarring. The balance between the two feels just right; as soon as we feel it’s okay to let our guard down and cozy up for the subplot involving Cassie and paediatric surgeon Ryan (Bo Burnham), who she’s dating, we’re pierced with some sort of startling sequence that reminds us of the volatility of the proceedings. As a result, it evokes a great sense of unpredictability early on that rarely lets up.
Related: First Promising Young Woman trailer lands online
Whilst Fennell’s direction is slick, so much of the film is owed to Mulligan’s magnetic performance; playing a character that is very against-type for the actress, she brings a ferocity to Cassandra that makes her such a tour-de-force. But Mulligan also brings real humanity and sincerity to the role; much like how the film is able to juggle tone, Mulligan is able to balance that too, in parts intimidating and empathetic – giving a soft-centred performance that makes her an easy character to root for but also a complete badass.
Considering she is in near-enough every single scene, she needs to own the role and she commands the screen with such verve and assurance in what is sure to be the performance to beat this year. She’s joined by a stellar supporting ensemble – featuring small but memorable turns from the likes of Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Adam Brody, Connie Britton and a sizeable performance from Burnham. Her dynamic with Burnham’s wry Ryan is an innocuous, heartfelt one – their veritable chemistry really making their relationship very convincing. How Fennell plays it out also makes for a very fascinating arc and adds to the unease given the constant pinballing of tone and genre. The film can take a while to really get into its narrative and the dialogue is a little heavy-handed in some scenes (which doesn’t feel necessary given how well Fennell’s themes come across already) but Promising Young Woman is an electrifying piece of work – a supercharged debut with a sugar-coated heart of darkness and a punchy message at its core.
Promising Young Woman was reviewed at GFF 2020.
Promising Young Woman is available in the US on Blu-Ray, DVD and On Demand from 16th March. A UK date is still TBC.
