What do we think of when we think of the situations of thousands of abuses against women? Anger? Frustration? Or an unshakable feeling of wanting to grab a screw and stick it in each of the poor bastards who commit these crimes? Promising Young Woman is a film that explores not only the thematic state of abuse in the culture but serves as a film that is pure hardcore feminism in which Emerald Fennel embodies her debut feature, writing, directing and producing the project along with other visible faces of independent female-led development projects: Margot Robbie with her production company Lucky Champ Entertainment gives us a story full of nuances, cruelty and reality that dances to the sound of trillers and black comedies and that can also become one of the most bizarre films so far this year with its irregular rhythm that changes between genres almost as much as the direction can afford it, there is much to analyze of this film so let's start at once.
The film has as a precedent the whole worldwide wave of the #MeToo movement as well as different trials lived in the United States against those guilty of rape who did not receive a sentence consistent with their acts, it is a work that focuses the point of conversation on sexual abuse and the trauma it leaves in the victims of it, making our protagonist Cassie, a former medical student who is identified with feminism and who lives with her parents, works in a coffee shop and who at night gives free rein to her true objective, Revenge is formed while she goes every night to nightclubs and pretends to be a young drunk to be "rescued" by men who then try to abuse or overdo it with her and then confront them and make them aware of their actions, is a premise that is at the beginning of the film but also the work does not stop there and leaves that scheme to portray Cassie's grief for the death of her best friend at the hands of this same kind of abuse.
One thing that black comedies have and that Emerald Fennel's feature debut has in particular is that it reserves much of the dialogue or condemnation of the culture and tries to focus much more on filmic spectacle, loud and chaotic colors in order to provide a contrast between the moral lights of the world, This film plays in a sophisticated way with these contrasts making us see characters that at first glance may seem like simple men who work every day and go to the bar with their friends (something that also achieves this perception is that all the male characters are played by comedians) and then later we open our way through the dark or wild side of each of these characters, that halo that nobody sees and that they hide from the world, and that does not exclude our main character who goes through several dark and attractive shades, without ceasing to be extremely funny but with more possibility of analysis thanks to the staging that allows us a direct, frontal speech to us, the audience.
The script offers us a more human perspective of a world in which there are no good or bad characters, only victims of a world that prefers not to look and turn a deaf ear to a problem rather than face it, although throughout the film the word "rape" is never pronounced (I think this choice is very wise) leaves a very clear and powerful message for everyone who sees it, the problem is there, whether we want it or not, so start to recognize it and act in function to solve it should be a priority in our society. This solution is represented in the character of Cassie who fights all the time to generate a change in society, we see a woman broken by a close loss that seeks renewal or revenge, two themes that are very present in the film by the hand of the main character whose first objective is revenge but who also seeks forgiveness and peace of mind.