«Promising Young Woman» keeps its promise

Saturday's movie platforms - Kelly Lambiel

Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, four Golden Globe nominations and BAFTA Award for Best British Film, Promising Young Woman, directed by Emerald Fennell and produced by Margot Robbie, among others, is already enjoying a fine reputation ahead of its theatrical release. The trailer is intriguing, colorful and sweet, while the plot is serious, dark and disturbing. A tempting, gourmet proposition, but does the confectionery live up to the packaging?

Warm hues at night, soft tones during the day. Bright colors when she goes out at night, pastels when she wakes up. The ambivalence of the character is present right down to the care given to the image. The thirty-something who still lives with her parents, wears bows in her hair and has breakfast in a pink bathrobe, is transformed into a vigilante as soon as the sun goes down. No need for superpowers: scarlet lipstick, impeccably curled eyelashes, a tight skirt, high heels and a good dose of cold-bloodedness.

A melting coating

«Déjà vu», some will say. «A must-see», say those who, like me, haven't yet been put off by the way certain so-called «feminist» themes have been treated in cinema in recent years, if they can be categorized at all. Promising Young Woman in this category. Between lightness and seriousness, humor and sarcasm, «good lessons» and real awareness, it has to be said, the balance is perfect. No wonder the film's producers and the Hollywood Press Association's evaluation committee couldn't agree on its genre. 

As with all good black comedies, we laugh right up to the end, sometimes yellow, sometimes outright. And, as with any good thriller, the script surprises right to the end. It's critical without being moralistic, funny without being comical, macabre without being melodramatic, cynical without being crude, and kitschy without ever slipping into the ridiculous. right down to the BO. Butt-ass Stars Are Blind by Paris Hilton, for example, sits perfectly alongside a more menacing and troubled violin version of the famous Toxic by Britney Spears. A clever mix that sets the tone right from the start.

A tasty heart

Emerald Fennell shows great subtlety here, with a perfect mastery of form which, totally at the service of the content, highlights it and enhances the message. Promising Young Woman takes its title from a phrase uttered a few years ago by an American judge during the trial of a student accused of rape. Reluctant to convict, the judge ruled that it would be a shame if a «mistake» made during a drunken evening were to compromise the future of this «promising young man», ignoring that of the young woman concerned. It's up to the consent issues that the director attacks through Cassie's story.

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Since the suicide of Nina, her best friend who was raped at a student party, every night Nina gets ready and goes out. Feigning drunkenness, she allows herself to be approached by numerous «good guys» eager to help her. And every night, the scenario is the same: one guy ends up taking her home to take advantage of her. While she feigns unconsciousness - which, by the way, obviously doesn't put any of her suitors off and is even considered an invitation - at the fateful moment, sober as if by magic, she takes great pleasure in asking them a question: «What are you doing?.

It's a cold shower for the guy who suddenly realizes he's about to rape a woman, and a thrill for the viewer who can't help but savor the turn of events. Her revenge could stop at these twisted but effective moral lessons, but everything changes when she learns that the boy who raped Nina in med school is coming back to town to get married. Cassie embarks on a larger, more elaborate vendetta. She visits everyone who knew about her friend's trauma, determined to make them regret their silence. 

And it's from this point on that I think the film gains in subtlety and manages to avoid the pitfalls of Manichaeism, for while the men are the big villains of the first part, the women are not to be outdone. From the dean who hides her cowardice under the excuse of presumption of innocence, to the former colleague and friend who judges Nina guilty because she had been drinking, we understand that it's no longer «just» a question of consent in the male-female relationship, but that the debate also opens up on the role played by society - by each and every one of us, in short - in rape culture.

A touch of bitterness

While I find it particularly pleasurable to see Cassie take on the antagonists as she does, and while I think the film is highly effective in questioning the aforementioned themes, there's one final point on which I consider it a real success, and that's Cassie herself. Carey Mulligan is not only masterful in her role as a psychopath, cold, implacable, sadistic and biting, but also totally shattering. 

If Promising Young Woman is the story of revenge, it's also, and above all, the story of a broken, obsessed, traumatized young woman, trapped in a time loop, who sacrifices her life, her happiness and her future to a cause that seems hopelessly lost. When intelligent writing raises ethical questions, and the quirky yet polished aesthetic provides entertainment while leading to real awareness, you get the kind of film that feminism deserves, that society deserves.

Write to the author: kelly.lambiel@leregardlibre.com

Photo credits: © Focus Features