Promising Young Woman

[superoz]

Just watched this and thought it was a really good film. It gets a lot darker than expected though the film does change tone throughout, difficult to describe as one single genre, and didn’t go the way I thought it would.

Thought Carey Mulligan was great in it, hope it gets a wider release especially after the Oscar nominations, so more people get to see it. Interested to hear what others think!

I've been waiting to see this since `September. I bought a Now TV stick on Friday jus to get access to Sky cinema. We watched it last night and it was totally worth the wait.

I particularly liked that no one was 100% good or even 100% evil. There were grey areas which seemed very real. There was room for change and growth and redemption....until there wasn't!

I hope Emerald Fennell gets at least one Oscar out of this. To make a film with such an important message that manages to be simultaneously dark, funny, surprising and entertaining is quite a feat. And she's only 35.

One thing I didn't understand was why she removed her car number plates. Can anyone enlighten me?

SPOILERS

I thought it was really good.

Ryan's relationship with Cassie was purely superficial. They never spoke about anything real (e.g. why she left med school) and their relationship was shown as the dancing in a pharmacy montage. The fact he chased her even when she was being rude to him made me think he just liked here for her looks and wasn't taking no for an answer. Cemented by him just happening to walk her to his apartment. Knew he wasn't a good guy after that.

I like that all the male characters are played by fairly likable actors but not one man in the entire movie was a genuinely good person.

She took Reg plates off, I think, so that she could get away undetected if things hadn't gone wrong.. That's what I originally thought anyway, she wasn't going to tell him who she was. The most shocking part to me, as well as the friend's reaction to it, was that he was somehow able to get married wasn't completely sick about it all and I also felt that excuses would continue to have been made, even by his wife after he was arrested...

The only thing that slightly bugged me as a bit of a plot hole was the fact that there was video footage doing the rounds when it happened. How come Nina/Cassie weren’t aware of it and surely it could have been used as evidence at the time?

@HeyGirlHeyBoy I guess that’s the point. That the event was so utterly insignificant and inconsequential to Al that it wasn’t even a blip in his life for him, whereas it was catastrophic for Nina. These men genuinely don’t think they have done anything wrong and it’s all excused away as “boys will be boys” or being young and dumb. This thinking is the very definition of rape culture.

Roller girl those boys would have closed ranks and wouldn't have shown the footage I suppose.. Absolutely re the blip for him.

Just watched this as well after waiting for what seemed like months for it finally to be released. I think I would even say it is one of the best films I've ever watched and include it in my top 10.

I really enjoyed the cinematography in it too, there was so many beautiful framing shots in it that had clearly been very well thought out. It was very stylised. I also hope Emerald Fennel wins at least one Oscar for it.

When I was watching it I think I thought I wanted a happy ending between her & Ryan, but actually the brutal ending was probably the best ending it could have had.

Carey Mulligan was sublime in it, I'd also give her the leading actress Oscar if i could too.

Did anyone manage to work out what the different colour pens on the tallies in her book meant? The red / blue. I thought it was possibly that red was guys who thought she was underage? Not sure though.

I did google that as wasn’t sure and some answers were that the red hints as violence had occurred and other answers were it doesn’t mean anything.

Had Nina committed suicide?

@EachandEveryone

Had Nina committed suicide?

I took it that way but I don't think it was ever explicitly explained.

I quite liked that there were some unknowns in the film, normally it annoys me, but I didn't mind so much in this.

I really don't know what to think.

I was certainly shaken by the final scenes - bold decision to take it in that direction. Though I think most people (particularly medical people!) have watched enough crime dramas to know that a simple bonfire isn't really going to do the job. And yes - why didn't the video influence events at the time? I can't quite decide whether the "If you're reading this I'm dead / Here's the crucial bit of evidence" thing was blatant cliche or a sweet reference to every crime caper movie/TV series I've ever watched.

It was certainly beautiful to look at. In interviews she's said that was something she thought about a lot. And the music! It was fascinating that, in its sparseness, the script must have read more like an opera text than a film.

Would it be unbearably awful to wonder if it might have worked equally well as a TV series? (Obviously that would have precluded Oscar nominations ...) I'm reluctant to even hint at any possible fault or weakness - sisterhood etc, so don't really want to say more until I've had longer to think about it.

Brava, Ms Fennell!

In some weird way, it kept reminding me of Kill Bill. Just some of the visuals and obviously the revenge aspect. The roman numerals flashing up and her nurse costume in particular. I'm pretty sure Quentin Tarrantino hates women though, so I doubt EF was deliberately referencing it. Maybe that's just me though.... 🤔

I read an article about it that mentioned a deleted scene where she was bruised after one of the encounters and she marked the encounter in red in her book to signify there had been some sort of violence used against her.

@Margotshypotheticaldog

In some weird way, it kept reminding me of Kill Bill. Just some of the visuals and obviously the revenge aspect. The roman numerals flashing up and her nurse costume in particular. I'm pretty sure Quentin Tarrantino hates women though, so I doubt EF was deliberately referencing it. Maybe that's just me though.... 🤔

Funny as I was thinking when I was watching it that it had a Tarantino feel to it. I watched with DD who hasn’t ever seen a Tarantino film so there was no point me asking her what she thought, so it’s interesting that you mentioned it.

Oh that's interesting re her tally. Yes soundtrack was super, I had said she reminded me a little of Britney and then there was that version of Toxic as she walked in..

I thought the men's reactions when she pretended to be drunk and then confronted them was totally unrealistic.

Why would they be scared? They would know they could do what they liked and be believed over a woman.

@Margotshypotheticaldog

In some weird way, it kept reminding me of Kill Bill. Just some of the visuals and obviously the revenge aspect. The roman numerals flashing up and her nurse costume in particular. I'm pretty sure Quentin Tarrantino hates women though, so I doubt EF was deliberately referencing it. Maybe that's just me though.... 🤔

DH said the same, reminded him of Kill Bill in particular. I can see similarities too.

I think the men were scared as it was so unusual to them they automatically assumed she was a bunny boiler aka Glenn close type and ran a mile from that. She must have kept the drunk act up a far while in order for them to get her at the apartment or whatever.

I though it was amazing I really hope it hits hard and wins a shed load of awards I think it's even more important for boys to watch than girls and it should be used in psche classes at school.

I enjoyed it to an extent. She was clearly very damaged and I thought reckless. It seemed unbelievable that she hadnt been seriously assaulted along the way or that no one had phoned the police on her especially the woman that ended up in the hotel room drunk or the dean for kidnapping the daughter. I dont know really. Something was missing.

I thought the men reacted as they did because she was challenging their own self image as "A nice guy". I'm a nice guy, I would never do that, and she was pointing out that they were just about to "Do that". She held up a mirror and they were horrified, refusing to believe what they saw. That's what I took from it.

I also loved how she told that one guy that she wasn't the only woman doing it, and that one of the others carried a scissors. The men she met were basically cowards and opportunists, up until Al at the end.

Also Ryan was portrayed as a good guy at the start. But when they go on the first date they end up “by coincidence” outside his apartment. I thought that was a bit of a sleazy move, but did Carrie think so?
She got angry after and kicked the bin, was that because she misread Ryan or wanted to go in to his apartment? However she went to see him at work the next day which makes me think it was the latter.

Have seen the reviews including the BBC Film Review and think I might go and see it once cinemas re-open.

@MayIDestroyYou

I really don't know what to think.

I was certainly shaken by the final scenes - bold decision to take it in that direction. Though I think most people (particularly medical people!) have watched enough crime dramas to know that a simple bonfire isn't really going to do the job. And yes - why didn't the video influence events at the time? I can't quite decide whether the "If you're reading this I'm dead / Here's the crucial bit of evidence" thing was blatant cliche or a sweet reference to every crime caper movie/TV series I've ever watched.

It was certainly beautiful to look at. In interviews she's said that was something she thought about a lot. And the music! It was fascinating that, in its sparseness, the script must have read more like an opera text than a film.

Would it be unbearably awful to wonder if it might have worked equally well as a TV series? (Obviously that would have precluded Oscar nominations ...) I'm reluctant to even hint at any possible fault or weakness - sisterhood etc, so don't really want to say more until I've had longer to think about it.

Brava, Ms Fennell!

I agree that it was beautiful to look at. That was a smart move. If it had looked as dark as the subject matter it would have been much harder to watch.