Promising Young Woman
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''Promising Young Woman'' is a 2020 film written, directed, and co-produced by Emerald Fennell in her feature directorial debut. It stars Carey Mulligan as a troubled young woman haunted by a traumatic past as she navigates forgiveness and vengeance, with
Bo Burnham Robert Pickering Burnham (born August 21, 1990) is an American stand-up comedian, musician, actor, filmmaker, and YouTuber. Burnham's work combines elements of filmmaking with Comedy music, music, Sketch comedy, sketch, and stand-up comedy, co ...
, Alison Brie,
Clancy Brown Clarence James Brown III (born January 5, 1959) is an American actor. Prolific in film and television since the 1980s, Brown is often cast in villainous and authoritative roles. His film roles include Rawhide in ''The Adventures of Buckaroo Ban ...
, Chris Lowell, Jennifer Coolidge,
Laverne Cox Laverne Cox (born May 29, 1972) is an American actress and LGBTQ advocate. She rose to prominence with her role as Sophia Burset on the Netflix series '' Orange Is the New Black'', becoming the first transgender person to be nominated for a ...
, and Connie Britton in supporting roles. It incorporates film genres including black comedy,
crime drama Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...
, feminist film, rape and revenge, and vigilante thriller. ''Promising Young Woman'' had its world premiere at the
Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...
on January 25, 2020, and was theatrically released in the United States on December 25, 2020, by Focus Features. It received highly positive reviews from critics, with Fennell's direction and screenplay and Mulligan's performance receiving widespread acclaim, and it grossed $18 million worldwide. The film won Best Original Screenplay at the 93rd Academy Awards, with additional nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Mulligan), and Best Film Editing. Fennell also won Best Original Screenplay at the Critics' Choice Awards, Writers' Guild Awards, and British Academy Film Awards.


Plot

Cassie Thomas is a 30-year-old medical school dropout who works in a coffee shop and spends her evenings going to bars and clubs and pretending to be drunk, then confronting those who attempt to take sexual advantage of her intoxication. It is slowly revealed that Cassie quit medical school after the public rape of her lifelong best friend Nina Fisher, who subsequently dropped out and committed suicide when her alleged rapist, Al Monroe, was cleared of wrongdoing. Cassie becomes reacquainted with Ryan Cooper, a former medical school classmate, who persuades her to go on a date. Ryan reveals that Al will soon get married. Angered that he has found success and happiness, while Nina is dead, Cassie begins to orchestrate revenge against the people that she thinks contributed to nobody being held accountable for the rape. First, Cassie meets with Madison McPhee, another former classmate and a friend of hers and Nina's, who blames Nina for her own assault because she often drank to excess, adding, "What did she think was going to happen?" Cassie plies Madison with wine and hires a man to take her to a hotel room to trick her into thinking she was raped. Madison later leaves Cassie multiple distressed voicemails. Cassie then targets Elizabeth Walker, the dean who dismissed Nina's case. Pretending to be a makeup artist for a popular band, she lures Walker's daughter into her car. She meets with Walker under the guise of returning to medical school, and finds that the dean only vaguely remembers Nina's case and even had Al return to give a talk at the school recently. Walker justifies her actions until Cassie tells her that she has just dropped her daughter off in the dorm room where Nina was raped. Terrified, Walker demands to know where her daughter is, finally admitting her own complicity and inaction before Cassie admits she is safe nearby. Next, Cassie meets with Al's lawyer, Jordan Green, and finds that he is deeply remorseful for his actions. Jordan, who is on a leave of absence after a psychotic episode, describes how easy it is to build a case against a rape victim. Cassie chooses to forgive him, and later visits Nina's mother, who encourages her to move on with her life. Cassie reconnects with Ryan. They begin dating and fall in love. She also introduces Ryan to her parents, who are happy that their daughter seems to finally be moving on. A distressed Madison confronts Cassie at home, who assures her that she was not actually raped. Madison admits her complicity and provides a phone containing a video of Nina's rape, revealing Ryan's presence at the party. Cassie confronts Ryan, who claims he was too drunk to remember the incident and should be forgiven as he was so young. Threatening to release the video, Cassie forces Ryan to reveal Al's bachelor party location. He begs for her forgiveness, but she refuses and they part, acrimoniously. Posing as a stripper at the party, Cassie drugs the attendees, handcuffs Al to a bed, and reveals her identity. Cassie attempts to carve Nina's name upon Al's body, but whilst defending himself he suffocates her with a pillow. The next morning, Al's friend, Joe, helps him burn Cassie's body in the woods. Cassie's parents report her missing. Ryan is visited by the police and lies that he is unaware of Cassie's whereabouts, suggesting she may have been unstable. At Al's wedding, Ryan is stunned to receive a scheduled text from Cassie, indicating that her plan is not finished. The police arrive at the reception to arrest Al for her murder. Flashbacks reveal that Jordan had received a package with the cell phone and instructions in case Cassie did not return from the bachelor party. The police had discovered a half-heart necklace with Nina's name on it in Cassie's burnt remains. Al is arrested for Cassie's murder as Ryan receives a final text from Cassie, signed with her and Nina's names.


Cast

In addition, Alfred Molina appears, uncredited, as lawyer Jordan Green.


Production

Emerald Fennell devised the concept of the film in 2017, and sold the script to Margot Robbie's production company LuckyChap Entertainment after pitching the opening scene. The script then appeared on the 2018 " Black List" of the most-liked unproduced screenplays. In January 2019, it was announced Carey Mulligan had been set to star in the film, with Fennell directing. In March 2019,
Bo Burnham Robert Pickering Burnham (born August 21, 1990) is an American stand-up comedian, musician, actor, filmmaker, and YouTuber. Burnham's work combines elements of filmmaking with Comedy music, music, Sketch comedy, sketch, and stand-up comedy, co ...
, Alison Brie, Connie Britton, Adam Brody, Jennifer Coolidge,
Laverne Cox Laverne Cox (born May 29, 1972) is an American actress and LGBTQ advocate. She rose to prominence with her role as Sophia Burset on the Netflix series '' Orange Is the New Black'', becoming the first transgender person to be nominated for a ...
, Max Greenfield, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Sam Richardson, and Molly Shannon joined the cast, with Angela Zhou and
Clancy Brown Clarence James Brown III (born January 5, 1959) is an American actor. Prolific in film and television since the 1980s, Brown is often cast in villainous and authoritative roles. His film roles include Rawhide in ''The Adventures of Buckaroo Ban ...
being added in April. Principal photography began in Los Angeles on March 26, 2019, lasting 23 days. The majority of exterior shots were filmed at Campus South, part of the Lanterman property at Cal Poly Pomona. The film production crew deliberately chose male actors who previously played characters known as good or wholesome to reinforce the idea that predators can be anyone. Fennell created "mood boards" to illustrate to the crew how Cassie has wildly different facets of her personality. In the first draft of the script, Fennell planned to end the film at the time Cassie's body was burned, but the production's financiers balked at having a negative ending. Prior to writing the script, Fennell initially considered an ending where Cassie appears at the wedding and kills the men responsible, but she deemed it unrealistic. She decided to have the ending where Cassie has a backup revenge plan as she felt Cassie would be thorough in her planning and she would be aware she could die. Additionally, Fennell stated that having Al apprehended at his wedding would reflect Cassie's sense of humor. The production had a budget around $10 million.


Music


Release

In February 2019, Focus Features acquired distribution rights to the film for the world excluding Australia, New Zealand, the Benelux, Israel, Greece, Middle East, the CIS, and South Africa. It had its world premiere at the
Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...
on January 25, 2020. It was initially scheduled to be released theatrically on April 17, 2020, but was pulled from the schedule due to the initial closures of movie theaters that occurred during the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. It was theatrically released on December 25, 2020, instead, and on
video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films Digital distribution, digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typica ...
on January 15, 2021. The
Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...
was released on March 16, 2021.


Reception


Box office

''Promising Young Woman'' grossed $6.5 million in the United States and Canada, and $12.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $18.9 million. Domestically, the film was released alongside '' Wonder Woman 1984'', '' News of the World'', and '' Pinocchio'', and was projected to gross around $2 million in its opening weekend. It went on to debut to $719,305, finishing fifth at the box office. Some 63% of the audience were female, and 74% were aged over 25. The film dropped 4.4% in its second weekend to $687,900, then made $586,285 in its third weekend, finishing sixth both times. The film continued to hold well in the subsequent weekends, including seeing a 16% bump following its four Golden Globe nominations, with a running total of $5.1 million by February 21.


Critical response

''Promising Young Woman'' received highly positive reviews from critics. Audiences surveyed by
CinemaScore CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data. Background Ed Mintz, who ...
gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while those polled by PostTrak gave it a 73% overall positive score, with 43% saying they would definitely recommend the film. Kate Erbland of IndieWire gave the film a "B+" and wrote, "Emerald Fennell's raucous debut, ''Promising Young Woman'', twists its buzzword-laden, spoiler-free synopsis—it's a #MeToo rape revenge thriller with bite!—into something fresh and totally wild." Writing for the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'', Justin Chang said, "The grimly multitasking finale of ''Promising Young Woman'' feels both audacious and uncertain of itself, as Fennell tries to meld a cackle of delight and a blast of fury, with a lingering residue of anguish. It doesn't all come together, though there's an undeniable thrill in seeing it come apart." Linda Holmes of NPR wrote that while Cassie is the film's focus, "Fennell is saying something here, too, about men. About nice men and about men who think they're nice men, or nice enough men." In '' Variety'', Dennis Harvey praised Mulligan's performance as "skillful, entertaining and challenging", but questioned her casting, writing that she wore her "pickup-bait gear like bad drag; even her long blonde hair seems a put-on". He speculated that producer Margot Robbie may have once been intended for the role instead. Mulligan criticized the comment, saying, "I felt like it was basically saying that I wasn't hot enough to pull off this kind of ruse ... For this film, you're going to write something that is so transparent? Now? In 2020? I just couldn't believe it." ''Variety'' issued an apology, saying the review had been insensitive and "minimized" her "daring performance". The National Society of Film Critics defended Harvey's review and criticized ''Variety''s apology. Harvey responded to Mulligan's comments in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
:'' "I did ''not'' say or even mean to imply Mulligan is 'not hot enough' for the role." He pointed out that he was a 60-year-old gay man and did not "go around dwelling on the comparative hotnesses of young actresses". Aisha Harris of NPR stated that Cassie does not get satisfaction from her acts of revenge, something differing from characters in other thrillers where characters take revenge. A. A. Dowd of '' The A.V. Club'' stated that Ryan Cooper initially is contrasted with predatory men and "represents the possibility of forgiveness, a light at the end of the dark tunnel assie hasbeen traveling through since college." In regards to why Ryan chooses to cover for his friends when the police interview him, Fennell said: "He ''so'' wants to be good. But he's not going to blow up his own life." In regards to the reveal showing his true character, Dowd said: "Even those who didn't participate are complicit for their silence, their justifications, their refusal to intervene." Dowd added that the casting of Burnham, who "comes across as nonthreatening" and has "a boyish quality", assisted the use of the character. Harris stated that Christopher Mintz-Plasse's portrayal of Neil had "just the right amount of creepy, entitled energy."


Accolades

''Promising Young Woman'' was nominated for five categories at the 93rd Academy Awards and won Best Original Screenplay. This film was longlisted in 13 categories at the 74th British Academy Film Awards, including Best Director for Fennell, Best Actress for Mulligan, and Best Supporting Actor for Burnham. It was finalized at six categories and won two awards, for Best Original Screenplay and Outstanding British Film. It was nominated for four categories at the 78th Golden Globe Awards, and six at the 26th Critics' Choice Awards. It won Best Actress for Mulligan and Best Original Screenplay for Fennell. It further received a Screen Actors Guild Awards nomination, and four
AACTA Awards The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, known as the AACTA Awards, are presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA). The awards recognise excellence in the cinema of Australia, film and ...
nomination, winning Best International Film and Best International Actress for Mulligan. Most of the awards were directed to Mulligan and Fennell, for the performances, screenplay as well as direction, respectively.


See also

* List of films featuring psychopaths and sociopaths


Notes


References


Further reading

*
PDF of the script


External links

* * * {{Navboxes , title = Awards for ''Promising Young Woman'' , list = {{AACTA International Award for Best Film {{Astra Film Award for Best Picture {{BAFTA Best British Film {{San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Film 2020 films 2020 black comedy films 2020 comedy-drama films 2020 crime comedy films 2020 crime drama films 2020 directorial debut films 2020 independent films 2020 thriller films 2020s American films 2020s British films 2020s comedy thriller films 2020s English-language films 2020s feminist films 2020s vigilante films American black comedy films American comedy thriller films American feminist comedy films American rape and revenge films British black comedy films British comedy thriller films British feminist films British rape and revenge films English-language black comedy films English-language comedy thriller films English-language independent films FilmNation Entertainment films Films directed by Emerald Fennell Films postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic Films produced by Margot Robbie Films produced by Tom Ackerley Films set in Ohio Films shot in Los Angeles Films whose writer won the Best Original Screenplay Academy Award Focus Features films LuckyChap Entertainment films English-language crime drama films English-language crime comedy films Films about female psychopaths and sociopaths Films about psychopaths and sociopaths