Anyone seen Promising Young Woman?

[Dotted]

Just this moment finished watching and wondering what other people thought?
I somehow find it simultaneously very shocking and completely unsurprising.
It sort of brought things home to me how ingrained things are in our culture and also how I felt a lot of empathy for Cassie, in terms of when you see utter injustice how it can eat into you and consume everything you do.
Would be interested to hear what others think!

I really want to see this but I don’t think I can yet as I don’t have sky. It looks really good and thought provoking

You can watch it on now.tv I think and you can sign up for a free week, fella .

@Dotted

Just this moment finished watching and wondering what other people thought? I somehow find it simultaneously very shocking and completely unsurprising. It sort of brought things home to me how ingrained things are in our culture and also how I felt a lot of empathy for Cassie, in terms of when you see utter injustice how it can eat into you and consume everything you do. Would be interested to hear what others think!

And yes, I agree. I don't want to spoil it for anyone but I found the waste of life so tragic.

Ooh thanks chis - have been wondering about trying NowTV so that’s another reason to do that soon. Now we’re sucking diesel :o

I thought it was excellent. I dismantling off NAMALT with the 'nice' guys. I don't want to say too much as I don't want to spoil it but I feel that the impact was stronger because of the ending.

I was pretty pissed off at the ending. Still no justice for Nina. The better outcome would have been that she gatecrashed his wedding and rigged a projector up to screen the video Madison gave her. To show him up in front of his wife and family.

Carey Mulligan was excellent though. Totally different character to what she normally plays.

CHISistoast This was exactly my feeling. I found it ultimately tragic and sad not the beacon of female empowerment it has been publicised as.

i havent seen it- and this review put me right off...(contains spoilers, obvs)
ayeshaasiddiqi.substack.com/p/id-like-this-to-stop-praise-for-a?fbclid=IwAR0oxmD4p9yvKnWzYFu99H_4CT29gqvsOR5nTb0OYlY-mKd-AO0Vlf0F6g8

spoilers

I think it was absolutely intentional that there was no justice for Nina. It highlighted that ultimately the system doesn't care and is deeply in men's favour. Hence the title of the film, a play on the statements about convicted rapist Brock Turner and his ludicrously light sentence.

Promising young man.

SPOILERS
Droopy you're right, that would definitely have been a better ending. Two lives being lost seemed to be unnecessarily sacrificial and seemed to underline that women will always be victims, irrespective of their efforts.

Showing the video at the wedding would have been a gross desecration of Nina’s memory/privacy.

I thought the ending was perfect.

But it is true - it shows the gross reality of the world. Better than showing a fairytale ending and letting men off the hook knowing ‘the bad guys’ were caught. I think it is a feminist masterpiece and hope as many people as possible watch it.

And that Britney cover

i watched it!

yeah carey mulligan is wonderful. esp love her voice

i have mixed feelings- i found it quite shocking (in a good way) it shows how unused to watching things through the 'female gaze' i am- the gyrating mens crotch stuff at the beginning was really...powerful somehow- so rare to see our perspective on the screen!

what she was doing was so dangerous- she could have been killed- i would have liked to see a gun or a knife- i suppose she didnt care...

it was very watchable and a beautiful exploration of that gap between identifying as a good person and yet behaving appallingly - that message was brilliantly done- the men at the stag scene urgh

feminist or empowering? - two women dead- no men hurt- trust in the authorities? when they'd already let you down? i dunno....

I watched it and thought it was really good. Very thought provoking and difficult to watch for me. I watched it with my 18yo dd who was really struck by it - she's not experienced any of that treatment yet from men and was very shocked (although she's more than aware of all the stuff that happens in schools and on social media). It was a good discussion to have with her

Carey Mulligan was brilliant I think.

@Helmetbymidnight

i watched it!

yeah carey mulligan is wonderful. esp love her voice

i have mixed feelings- i found it quite shocking (in a good way) it shows how unused to watching things through the 'female gaze' i am- the gyrating mens crotch stuff at the beginning was really...powerful somehow- so rare to see our perspective on the screen!

what she was doing was so dangerous- she could have been killed- i would have liked to see a gun or a knife- i suppose she didnt care...

it was very watchable and a beautiful exploration of that gap between identifying as a good person and yet behaving appallingly - that message was brilliantly done- the men at the stag scene urgh

feminist or empowering? - two women dead- no men hurt- trust in the authorities? when they'd already let you down? i dunno....

The men didn't get away with it though. I was glad of that - before the ending, I was just resigned to the fact that yet again they would get away with it.

I actually cried at the end of the film.

I thought it was great.

I thought it was great and the ending made it for me.

I know so many "nice guys" who consider themselves feminists because they like "badass women" in film, which misses the point spectacularly. Having it turn into a successful revenge mission where she took them all down at the bachelor party would have let the men watching off the hook and allowed them not to focus on the reality of how these stories usually end up.

The film was as unflinching as Cassie's character was when it came to accountability, which I thought was very good.

The men didn't get away with it though.

You could argue, she had to be killed before women are taken seriously. :( - which is probably true but not very empowering.

Its very good film and should hopefully shine a light on rape-culture etc.

@Helmetbymidnight

The men didn't get away with it though.

You could argue, she had to be killed before women are taken seriously. :( - which is probably true but not very empowering.

Its very good film and should hopefully shine a light on rape-culture etc.

Isn't that the point, though? It's seldom an empowering experience. I think it's of more value for the film to shine a light on how bad the situation actually is, rather than be falsely empowering.

Yeah, but its held up as an empowering film (not the film-makers fault obvs, that's what the hype is saying) -

Is it empowering?

I'd say...not really.

We watched it last night, I wasn’t keen on the ending but reading this thread makes me appreciate it more.

I often wonder how many of the dickwad men I’ve encountered in my life now identify as “good men”. Do any of them have daughters, and look back and regret their behaviour? Or do they think “I was young, it wasn’t my fault”?

I didn't see it as empowering either. Bleak if anything.

@Helmetbymidnight

Yeah, but its held up as an empowering film (not the film-makers fault obvs, that's what the hype is saying) -

Is it empowering?

I'd say...not really.

Yeah but that's exactly what I liked about it. "Empowering" narratives generally detract from the reality, which is that vulnerable women rarely come out on top in these situations.

Women already know these things but men need to be confronted with it and not be able to go away patting themselves on the back because they were rooting for the badass woman who got revenge on them all (usually whilst looking super hot in a catsuit.)

I found the honesty of the ending really refreshing and valuable. It's empowering in that it gives a voice to that reality and forces people to reckon with it.