First off, a trigger warning: Promising Young Woman has a heavy focus on sexual assault. If that subject matter is too disturbing or triggering to you in any way, this may not be the movie for you. I’ll be discussing sexual assault in this review as well, though I will not be spoiling any major plot points for the film. Please proceed in a way that keeps you feeling safe and honors your needs.
Promising Young Woman opens with our heroine, Cassie, out for a night on the town. She appears to have had one too many and accepts an offer to get a ride home from a stranger. You get a sickening sense of what’s about to happen as Cassie nearly passes out on the cab ride home, but what actually transpires is the first of many shocks and twists that this movie has to offer. What follows is a sort of twisted hero’s journey as Cassie grapples with her dark past in a story that will keep you guessing right up until the credits roll.
I have to admit, I had my reservations about Promising Young Woman. Sexual assault has been used as a plot device to show so many women hitting rock bottom and figuratively rising from the ashes that it’s (almost) laughable. What’s more frustrating is the number of sexual assault stories about women that have been told by men. Imagine my relief when I saw a bevvy of women’s names attached to this project, and let me tell you it shows. Sexual assault is in no way glamorized; it’s never shown on-screen in a way to shock and titillate.
There’s so much about this film to love. In a movie that would be easy to desaturate for a sense of grittiness, it instead opts for pops of bright colors and washes of pastel, making the whole experience surprisingly saturated. The scoring was brilliant—almost as eclectic as the film’s tone. One minute you’re listening to Paris Hilton’s long-forgotten “Stars are Blind,” then you’re crashing headlong into a creepy string rendition of “Toxic” by Britney Spears. I was never bored, always caught between laughter, shock, and deep contemplation. The movie has a lot to say about toxic masculinity, feminism, justice, and revenge. Honestly, I feel like I need to watch it a few more times before I truly understand all of its nuance.
Even if you don’t usually make a point of seeing Oscar nominated films, Promising Young Woman is absolutely worth the watch; it deserves all five of its nominations and then some. Part dark comedy, part thriller, part something all its own, Promising Young Woman is a breath of fresh air from a film-making and storytelling perspective, and I hope to see much more from writer and director Emerald Fennel in the future.
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