Emerald Fennell surprises us with her first feature film as the writer and director of the film Promising Young Woman. It deals with a social problem that goes back a hundred years. Without telling you too much, this film questions what a "good person" is.
Promising Young Woman Synopsis
Cassie Thomas, a young girl with enormous potential, first in her class leaves medical school overnight with her childhood best friend. The reasons for this abandonment are revealed during the film. Seven years later, Cassie works in a coffee shop and still lives with her parents who are worried about her future and social life. At the same time, she leads a double life since she goes out every night and pretends to be drunk while waiting for a "nice boy" to take her home. She eventually meets a young man, Ryan Cooper, who seems honest and falls in love which upsets her habits.
"A horrifying comedy"
This is how Emerald Fennell characterizes his film. Indeed, she describes the film as a dark horror comedy, a revenge thriller but also a romantic comedy. The director wanted viewers to ask questions, to talk about it among themselves after the end credits, to be disturbed, confused or shocked. It was important for her to achieve a revenge that could be real and not an action movie with a strong woman who destroys all the men around her with weapons. Thus, Cassie can be your neighbor, your sister, your baker which is the strength of this film. She is a brilliant but fragile woman which makes the story even more complex.
A well-thought-out cast
Emerald Fennell chose well-known comedy people so that the viewer could identify them as sympathetic characters from the start. Thus, we find some central characters of the comedies New Girl, Newport Beach, 2 broke girls and Community. The goal is to demonstrate that anyone can be complicit in a crime even if it is a friend or a "nice boy" the rest of the time.
Headlining is Carey Mulligan as Cassie. The latter was nominated for the 2021 Golden Globes and the 2021 Oscars for "Best Actress". She is accompanied by Bo Burnham who plays Ryan.
In conclusion, this film is brilliant, surprising and extremely well crafted. It is important to note that pop music plays a crucial role in the film. The film also received the award for "Best Original Screenplay" at the Oscars and BAFTA 2021. The ending is really unexpected and questions what a woman must sacrifice to obtain justice. Everyone will walk out of the room with a notice. Indeed, this film will certainly not leave you indifferent whether you like it or not.
