Emerald Fennell’s debut feature follows a dangerous rape-revenge fantasy that ultimately leads to an important discourse about sexual assault

You may have already caught the trailer for Promising Young Woman, a buzzy unveiling that built serious anticipation days before its world premiere at Sundance.

This trailer appears to give away much of the film, hinting at a kind of heightened rape-revenge fantasy played out nastily on a neon-soaked screen. The marketing toes the line between timely edginess and familiar thriller beats in a way that’s likely to appeal to its progressive target audience. To be clear, the whole of Promising Young Woman will absolutely satisfy said demographic, but it also has the potential to go much further.

Our protagonist, the beguiling Cassandra Thomas (Carrie Mulligan), has had it with men. She finds herself frequently catcalled on the street, hit on at the coffee shop she works in, and — most troublingly — taken home for sex by conniving men when she appears too drunk to consent. The catch is (and this is only a spoiler if you skipped the trailer), Cassandra isn’t drunk at all. She fashions herself as a vulnerable piece of “bait” to catch these predatory men in the act of sexual assault. It’s a risky game Cassandra plays, and much of the film naturally explores the choices and consequences surrounding this game. 

Through the kind of authentic storytelling that only an observant woman could manage, anyone can understand the source of Cassandra’s frustrations. Still, Fennell makes the clever choice to avoid being entirely apologetic of Cassandra’s choices. At times, Cassandra seems insensitive or unfair; at worse times, she seems downright psychotic. All of this makes for a nuanced exploration of feminism and justice that doesn’t settle for easy answers or perfectly likable heroines.

Mulligan pulls off a multitude of moods and personas as Cassandra. She’s prickly and distrustful, but also grounded and lovable. She uses her versatile face to make Cassandra an endlessly watchable walking contradiction. Somehow wide-eyed, innocent, world-weary and cynical, Mulligan’s expressive face deserves a home in the hall of fame along the likes of Gena Rowlands and Giulietta Masina. 

Everything that Mulligan’s interpretation of Cassandra goes through feels entirely plausible, if only ever-slightly heightened beyond the everyday traumas women face. First-time feature director (and Killing Eve showrunner) Emerald Fennell approaches this version of reality with an easy, offhand humor that keeps her heavy subject matter from getting overly didactic. In fact, Fennell manages even more of a tonal cacophony. Promising Young Woman is simultaneously four films: it is a drama rooted in deep trauma; a stilted coming of age tale about a woman stuck in her past; a twee rom-com co-starring the delightful Bo Burnham (in lovey-dovey musical drugstore montages no less) and a twist-filled action-thriller. 

Somehow, all the pieces coalesce into a magical blend, leaving at least this viewer in a state of convoluted awe, unsure at what wavelength my body was vibrating at, trying to seize the emotions and express them as they appeared until I was a laughing-crying theater mask of facial contortions. I walked out of that theater in a state I can only describe as “shook.” Surely, a large portion of the film’s effect on me is plot-related, resulting from a deep connection I felt toward the protagonist and an equally deep commitment to taking this journey with her. But what affected me more heavily is the surprisingly multi-faceted approach Fennell takes in her exploration of rape culture and its effects.

Fennell has done more than create an entertaining issue-based film; she has created a discourse. She’s illuminating the issues as they exist in life with all the subtleties and tragedies contained therein. She’s showing the very real ripple effects of sexual assault through Cassandra’s descent from “promising young woman” in med school to lost, angry cafe work. She is asking every one of us exactly what our role is in the systemic problem of rape culture, sexual assault and gender discrimination, and she’s not pretending to have any grandiose solution to these issues. Instead, she subverts expectations at every turn and challenges audiences to really think about the moral forces behind our decisions. Who are we hurting? Who are we healing? And what can we individually do to create less hurt and more healing? To stir up this much important dialogue is an act of powerful storytelling and a chance to use entertainment for meaningful change.

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