In her debut feature film, Emerald Fennell takes us on a wild, thrilling ride of trauma fueled revenge. Seven years after losing her best friend, Cassandra (Carrey Mulligan) refuses to move on with her life and instead makes it her mission to scare self-described “nice guys” and would-be rapists straight. In the daring first scene, we see how she does this: by pretending to be extremely intoxicated, alone and vulnerable in a busy bar. Eventually, a seemingly nice guy offers to help her home. Yet, he always takes her back to his place instead and she continues to act nearly-unconscious drunk up until it is extremely apparent that this man is about to rape her. The moment her eyes pop open, giving the audience a knowing look, and soberly asks, “What are you doing?” is a huge turn and a confrontation that fills these horrible men with chilling fear.
Carrey Mulligan plays Cassandra, a woman turning thirty who still lives at home, works at a coffee shop and dropped out of medical school. Her parents seem disappointed, baffled by her lack of motivation and question where she goes so late at night. But to many of the women watching this film, Cassandra is a badass vigilante turning the tables on men and hopefully saving women from future encounters with them. She wears her smudged lipstick like war paint, ready to battle the patriarchy, one misogynistic creep at a time. I loved the moment she just stopped and stared at the catcalling construction workers until they got uncomfortable and left and I actively cheered when she took a golf club to that pickup truck. Sure, Cassandra is probably not a psychologically well person, the trauma she’s endured will do that to a person. She’s the sort of woman many men brush off as a “crazy bitch” and while I wouldn’t want to be her friend, I see her as a hero actively seeking revenge for her best friend. Most women will cheer for her until the very end. And I hope Mulligan wins the Oscar for her performance.
As the story moves, Cassandra shifts her prey to old college acquaintances and the system that protected her friend’s rapist. Like tallies in her little notebook, the movie counts them off in roman numerals: an old classmate who thinks Cassie and Nina “cried wolf”, the lawyer who spent his career defending rapists. One by one, Cassandra finds them and in her own clever and often unorthodox way, makes them see the error of their ways. The scene with the college dean is especially chilling, how Dean Walker (Connie Britton) casually says she hears rape accusations once or twice a week (!!!) and really, what can she do about it? But her tune changes when she is told that her daughter is on campus alone with boys and a bottle of booze. “Look how easy that was. I guess you just had to think about it in the right way. I guess it feels different when it’s someone you love.”
Promising Young Woman is nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture and best editing. Carrey Mulligan earned her first nomination for lead actress. Emerald Fennell earned nominations for her original screenplay and her directing. And according to the trivia page on IMDB, Fennell was pregnant during filming, which just makes her more amazing. I’m not sure, but Fennell may be the first person to be nominated for directing a movie while pregnant. And I would love to see her win.
There is so much to unpack in this film. The female pop artists soundtrack is more than just catchy fun, but thought provoking. I never really cared for Brittney Spears’ Toxic, but the instrumental version used as Cassandra infiltrates the bachelor party is perfectly foreboding and I love the version of It’s Raining Men used in the film. Many of the shots are so beautifully and thoughtfully composed, it’s almost a shame there was no cinematography nomination. I especially love the moment in the coffee shop, where Cassandra’s head is perfectly framed against the decorative wall piece. As she looks down, it looks like an old renaissance painting of a saint, or martyr. And there are multiple references to The Night of the Hunter, which I’m still trying to connect. I’d like to see Cassandra teach Robert Mitchum’s character a lesson and I think she’d enjoy that too.
Promising Young Woman is one of the most daring, empowering and thrilling films I’ve seen in years. Cassandra embodies every woman’s rage and pain we hide inside and seeing her release it is so satisfying, even euphoric at times. Honestly, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen such a powerfully feminist film in all my life and while I doubt the Academy will find it worth of winning best picture, it is my personal pick. I want to add this to my blu-ray collection, update it as technology changes and make sure to show it to my boys when they’re old enough to date to help reiterate that they must respect and believe women, or there will be serious consequences.
“You know, I got a bonus for every settlement out of court. I got another bonus for every charge dropped. We all did. There was a guy… his only job was to go through all their social media accounts for any compromising information. He contacted old friends, past sexual partners. Oh, you’d be amazed how much easier it is now with the internet to dig up dirt. In the old days we used to go through a girl’s trash. Now? One drunk photo at a party. Oh, you wouldn’t believe how hostile that makes a jury.”
First off, let’s state the obvious. It’s refreshing to see a superhero movie with a woman in the spotlight and not on display for her body, but for her abilities. Sure, we’ve seen female superheroes before, but they’ve never had the opportunity a feature film like this. And if we look back at some (not all) of their past film roles, things look really sexist. Not so for Wonder Woman.
In Patty Jenkins’s Wonder Woman, Diana (Gal Gadot) is raised as the only child on an island of Amazonian women. The island life is peaceful, beautiful and idealistic, as are many people’s childhoods. Diana’s mother, Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen), is reluctant to train her to fight. All the women are fierce warriors and just as Diana becomes the fiercest, a man crash lands just off the island. Diana saves him and learns of a great war plaguing the world. She leaves to fight and bring peace to mankind again.
For a feminist film, Wonder Woman gets a lot right. Diana is both beautiful and strong, with her power often overshadowing her beauty. She wears her iconic suit, allowing her free movement, but not making her an object of male gaze. Unlike other superhero ladies, the visual emphasis is not focused on her butt or breasts and she is not adorned with an unrealistic amount of makeup. 
The film uses Diana’s girl power for some tasteful comedy. A few scenes between Steve and Diana bring some light sexual flirtation, but the line, “When it comes to procreation, men are essential, but for pleasure, not necessary.” puts Steve in his place. That’s as crass as it gets. There are no jokes about boobs, periods, mood swings or anything that really demeans women. I love it. I especially loved and identified with the scene where Steve’s secretary takes her shopping for an outfit more acceptable for 1910s London. If you don’t kick your legs up in the dressing room to see if your clothes can move with you, then you’re missing out.
In this barren, crazy land, Max (Tom Hardy) is a man just trying to survive. He is captured, taken to The Citadel and used as a blood bag for a sick war boy, Nux (Nicholas Hoult). When one of Immortan Joe’s Imperators, Furiosa (Charlize Theron) goes for a gas run and suddenly heads east, he discovers that she has taken his brides. Joe and his followers roll out to chase her down and bring back his treasured brides. But Furiosa is a fighter, taking the women to The Green Place where the Many Mothers are and is ready to crush Joe’s patriarchal oppression. 
What really makes me intensely love this film is how wonderfully strong and powerful the women are depicted. Furiosa is my new hero. She single-handedly leads a rebellion against Immortan Joe, drives the hell out of her rig and can take care of herself and her friends. The brides she smuggles out are just as tough, though we may have our doubts at first. And the women the meet out east prove to be strong allies. 
On the flip side, I love how disgusting Immortan Joe and his gang are. Joe is this sickly fat man covered in boils who has to wear a device to help him breathe. Yet, his breathing apparatus looks like bared teeth, his see-through armor is molded to give him a six-pack and has medals hanging off of it. Talk about fragile masculinity, right? His war boys aren’t much better. They’re sickly pale and skinny, amped up on chrome they spray on their mouth and teeth, convincing them to die for Immortan Joe. And that guy with the nipple rings, ugh, so gross in every way. 
I love this film. I want everyone to see it. The first time I saw it, I thought it would be your usual action film, so I just relaxed and drank a couple beers. By the end, I was jumping up and down in my living room cheering, “Down with the patriarchy!” When I watched this film a second time, I was just as pumped up. I was ready to put monster tires and spikes on my dorky car and remove all horrible men from power. 
The Best Picture Project 