2020-04-01_Total_Film

I

am a nice guy!” pleads Christopher Mintz-Plasse’s

not-so-nice Neil in writer/director Emerald

Fennell’s blistering feature debut. He’s one of

dozens of men to have failed Cassandra Thomas’

test. Played by a rarely better Carey Mulligan, Cassie

spends her evenings in bars, feigning legless inebriation

until a ‘nice guy’ picks her up. How far they go is up to

them, but consent is never given and if they ignore

Cassandra’s repeated protests... well, that would be telling.

MO, and you’ll find a film that’s rooted

in the repercussions of trauma – both

the act itself and the scars that refuse to

fade in the absence of justice. “We get

accusations like this all the time,” says

the college dean who, a few years prior,

covered up a crime that drives Cassie’s

every action. “I have to give him the

benefit of the doubt.” It’s a chilling

line, but one that gets to the heart of

what makes Fennell’s script so cutting.

In parallel with Cassie’s ongoing

mission, the thirtysomething med-

school dropout strikes up a relationship

with former classmate Ryan (Bo

Burnham). As she begins to drop her

defences after years of singledom, the

two share a sincere connection,

bonding over awkward dinners with

Cassie’s loving parents (Clancy Brown,

Jennifer Coolidge) and impromptu

dance parties in the local pharmacy. In

a different film, their chemistry would

make for a charming romcom. Here,

it opens up questions about whether

Cassie can truly reconcile her need

for vengeance with a life of her own.

Mulligan – a consistently captivating

screen presence since she shot to

attention in Lone Scherfig’s An Education

• is operating on another level here.
  Intimidating and vulnerable, confident
  and in crisis; Cassie’s contradictions are
  what make her such a compelling
  character. She isn’t The Bride or even
  Lisbeth Salander, and wrestles with the
  consequences of her actions, despite
  her righteous intentions. Because she’s
  ultimately a good person, Cassie so
  often is denied the catharsis she
  desperately craves, and so too is the
  audience, Fennell challenging genre
  expectations at every turn.
  Striking styling and a distractingly
  cool soundtrack (that ‘Toxic’ remix from
  the trailer is the tip of the iceberg) can
  get in the way of the serious story
  Fennell is telling. Meanwhile, the ending
  is destined to be one of the year’s most
  divisive, taking a huge swing and not
  quite hitting the mark. But on this
  evidence, Fennell is a promising young
  filmmaker indeed. Jordan Farley

THE VERDICT

Carey Mulligan is electric in a blackly

comic #MeToo revenge thriller fuelled

by righteous fury.

Billed as a “delicious new take on

revenge”, the first thing to note about

Promising Young Woman is it probably

isn’t the film you think it is. Look past

the cupcake-coloured aesthetics, darkly

comic tone and Cassandra’s provocative

CERTIFICATETBCDIRECTOREmerald

FennellSTARRINGCareyMulliganBo

BurnhamLaverneCoxClancyBrown

JenniferCoolidgeSCREENPLAYEmerald

FennellDISTRIBUTORUniversalPictures

RUNNINGTIME       minutes

PROMISING

YOUNG WOMAN

The predator trap...

OUT 17 APRIL

CareyMulligangoes

onarighteous

rampageofrevenge

SEE THIS

IF YOU

LIKED...

THEGIRLWITH

THEDRAGON

TAT TO O 



LisbethSalander

takesrevengeon

menwhoabuse

womeninthischilly

NordicNoir

REVENGE

  

CoralieFargeat’s

rape-revengethriller

isfilteredthroughthe

femalegazebutisno

lessviolentasaresult

KILLINGEVE



-present

Fennelltookover

fromPhoebe

Waller-Bridgeas

showrunnerfor

the secondseason

FORMORE

REVIEWSVISIT

GAMESRADAR

COM/TOTALFILM

PREDICTED INTEREST CURVE™

THRILLED

ENTERTAINED

NODDING OFF

ZZZZZZZZZ

RUNNING TIME 0 20 40 60 80 113

Pick-up

artist

Doctor in

Love the house

is blind

Wine

and dine

Spit take Poetic justice

SUBSCRIBEATWWWTOTALFILMCOM/SUBS

THE WORLD’S MOST TRUSTED REVIEWS

TOTAL FILM | APRIL 2020

UN

IVE

RSA

L,^ B

FI,^

ARR

OW

FIL

MS