A Review of Promising Young Woman (2020)
TW: Sexual violence
I’ve been on a mission to find a film that depicts and discusses sexual violence in a way that isn’t damaging to survivors or their loved ones. I was starting to lose faith that a film like that could exist until I saw Emerald Fennell’s new film, Promising Young Woman. As an homage to the rape-revenge genre popular through the 20th century, this film tells the story of a friend of a survivor named Cassie (played by Carey Mulligan) who is determined to seek justice for her friend, Nina. In a series of intricate plans that will leave you on the edge of your seat, Cassie moves from targeting random predators in bars to those who directly failed Nina when she was looking for help following her sexual assault, which is never shown on screen.
Promising Young Woman was like a breath of fresh air for me. After seeing films like Leaving Las Vegas (1995) where the love interest, Sera, has a downfall marked by a violent and disturbing on screen exploitative rape scene that serves no actual relevance to the plot, Fennell’s film proves that, when women are in charge of telling their own stories, we can progress. Rather than attempting to punish women for the sake of conflict in an otherwise stale movie, Promising Young Woman gives the topic of sexual violence the attention it deserves, fleshing out its commentary in a way that’s certain to make women across the globe feel heard. Hopefully, men will watch it as well and gain a better understanding of what women are forced to carry throughout their lives from a young age. As a product of the MeToo movement reaching the film industry, this film shows that we’re headed in a direction where discussions of sexual violence against women can be handled in a respectful and impactful way rather than normalizing and desensitizing viewers to it.
Fennell’s decision to have the main character of her story be the loved one of a survivor was a fascinating choice that allowed for the conversation of sexual violence to be expanded and explored from a new perspective. Despite never being sexually assaulted, Cassie carries the weight of her friend’s trauma close to heart, to the point where she devotes her life to catching predatory men and holding those who denounced Nina’s experiences accountable. Throughout the film, there grows a dismal recognition that sexual violence is an issue that can affect anyone. In one especially tense scene, Cassie frustratedly explains that every time she goes to a bar, which is multiple times a week, there’s always a man who tries to take her home with him when she pretends to be intoxicated.
In an especially groundbreaking move, Promising Young Woman takes the idea that sleazeballs in bars are the only ones who will take advantage of vulnerable women and flips it on its head. The men who creep towards Cassie at first come across like a character from a light-hearted sitcom or romantic comedy until they show their true colors. In doing this, Fennell expresses that women are constantly on edge because we don’t know who poses a threat. When caught, nearly every man who realizes that Cassie wasn’t drunk at all tries to defend himself by stating, “I’m a nice guy!” to which Cassie responds, “are you?” From a female perspective, we can finally challenge the concept of “good guys” and “bad guys”, which isn’t as black and white as everyone’s been led to believe.
Another part of Promising Young Woman that deeply resonated with me was how much ground it covers in its examination of the problems that have been overlooked in society when it comes to helping survivors. For a nearly 2 hour long film, Fennell smoothly transitions from Cassie targeting systems of power to the groups of people who chose to turn a blind eye. For the dean of the college Cassie and Nina attended during Nina’s sexual assault, Cassie’s interrogation reveals that, in her position of power, the dean chose to take sides with the perpetrator because she couldn’t “ruin his reputation”. Fennell demonstrates how damaging this kind of language, reminiscent of the Brock Turner case among many others, can be to survivors, especially when it’s coming from someone who has the authority to do the right thing. The only way that Cassie can get the dean to truly understand that what she did was wrong is by placing someone close to her in a situation similar to Nina’s. This also felt similar to the vast number of people who turn a blind eye to sexual violence until they or someone in their circle are affected by it. Fennell doesn’t hold back from calling out the hypocrisy in institutions of power within her film.
Alongside people in positions of power, Fennell also addresses problems deeply rooted within the judicial system, another area that’s been commonly found to mistreat survivors. When she confronts the lawyer who defended the perpetrator in Nina’s case, he admits that he received a bonus for having her case dropped. He added that, in sexual assault cases, if the lawyer could find any picture of the victim drunk on social media, any testimony they could possibly give would be immediately thrown in the trash, no matter what happened to them. Although the lawyer expressed grief for his previous actions, his confession about the way the judicial system actively works against survivors repeats a lot of survivors’ calls that it’s an area that desperately needs reform.
Fennell doesn’t forget to address bystanders as well. When Cassie learns who was present during Nina’s assault from a video that was disgustingly taken at the time, she confronts one of the bystanders for standing idly by while Nina needed help. When he protests that he “didn’t do anything,” Cassie can’t help but laugh at his ignorance. Despite not directly participating in the assault, Fennell clarifies that, if you’re present and you do nothing to help a survivor, you’re a part of the problem. It’s messages like this that prove that Promising Young Woman is working to draw attention to the topics that desperately need to be addressed.
But what stood out to me the most was that the film didn’t simply put forth the argument that men are the antagonists. It also looked beyond that to the female peers who discredit accounts of sexual assault by taking the perpetrator’s side. Cassie calls out one of her classmates who does exactly this and, in a similar way to the dean, the only way she can get her message across to her is by going to extremes to put her in Nina’s shoes so she can truly understand even just a fraction of the trauma survivors carry. Even though Promising Young Woman doesn’t take time to acknowledge that male survivors exist, Fennell at least succeeds at highlighting the true complexities of who’s at fault for a mistreated survivor. While the perpetrator is absolutely first in line to take the blame, there’s a lot of factors working against survivors that need to be recognized and changed.
Promising Young Woman works like a collage of all of the aggravating things women are forced to face in their day to day lives, from the empty compliments of “you look so pretty” to the defense, “I was a kid”, to hearing the perpetrator immediately assume the role of the victim the moment they’re accused of something, whether it be in a one on one confrontation, or in court. It chips away at the damaging images of women imagined by unsympathetic men throughout the history of film to produce a new stark message that it’s time for women to speak and take charge of their own narratives. While I wish that there could have been more POC and LGBTQIA+ perspectives included in the screenplay, I’m hopeful that, in the wake of the MeToo movement, we’ll be seeing more storytellers from these communities sharing their stories widely to mainstream audiences.
But, where we’re at now is hopeful. Compared to the atrocious depiction of sexual violence in Leaving Las Vegas, Promising Young Woman shows the right way to discuss sensitive topics by navigating its complexities in depth in a way that educates audiences, leaving a positive impact on the future. It’s an impactful and cathartic film that will leave you with a lot to think about.
And because of that, I’m confident in saying that, for survivors’ representation on screen, we’re finally headed in the right direction.
Alyssa Henderson
My name is Alyssa, and I’m a graduate from the University of California, Davis with a degree in English and film, currently working in the tech industry. When I first learned about Survivors to Superheroes, I was instantly touched by its goals to educate, support, and empower survivors because, unfortunately, there aren’t as many safe and helpful resources for young survivors online as there should be. Writing has guided me through challenging times and, with our literary journal, I’m especially excited to help cultivate a space where survivors and their loved ones can creatively express themselves through art and literature as a part of their healing process. In my spare time, you can find me cheering on the San Jose Sharks, attempting to play the bass guitar, and relaxing at the beach.
